Optical disc

ABSTRACT

An optical disk according to the present invention is the optical disk on which secret information on unique information given to a specific optical disk manufacturer or a specific optical disk and information recorded on an infringement disk list of identifying an illegitimate optical disk manufacturer or an illegitimate optical disk are recorded in advance, and the optical disk has an area in which reproduction-only encrypted data encrypted based on the secret information and the information on the infringement disk list is recorded in advance or an area capable of recording the encrypted data to be encrypted based on the secret information and the information on the infringement disk list.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to an optical disk capable of, forinstance, preventing distribution of pirated optical disks.

BACKGROUND ART

[0002] In recent years, optical disks are very actively applied to AV(Audio Visual) and PC (Personal Computer) fields. For instance, a CD(Compact Disc) developed for music underwent further development to aplayback-only CD-ROM of providing a program and an application for thePC, and a CD-R on which data is recordable and a CD-RW on which the datais rewritable are further developed so that it has become an opticaldisk format widely spread in the AV and PC fields.

[0003] Advancement of densification technology in recent years allowedrapid diffusion of a playback-only DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) formatcapable of recording images of a movie and so on. As for the DVD,recordable and rewritable formats such as a DVD-R, a DVD-RAM and aDVD-RW are also developed, and it is becoming an acceleratedly spreadingoptical disk format.

[0004] It is expected that, as the densification technology is furtherdeveloped in future, an optical disk format of a higher capacity and asmaller optical disk format of the same capacity will be developed so asto appear on the market as optical disk systems of cultivating new AVuses.

[0005] In the case of developing, manufacturing and selling the opticaldisks and optical disk drives related to the above CD and DVD formats,it is normal to be licensed to-intellectual property related to theformats from a license administrative organization founded by adeveloper or an organization having developed the above CD and DVDformats and manufacture and sell the optical disks and optical diskdrives by paying adequate licensing fees. It is an ideal and requiredsituation in view of sound advancement of the industry.

[0006] To our regret, however, the optical disks and optical disk drivesin so-called pirated CD and DVD formats are manufactured and sold inreality by offenders without obtaining the license and/or without payingthe licensing fees. For that reason, given the present circumstances,there is distribution of pirated products unreasonably lower-priced thanthe products produced under license in the market so that a licenseesuffers an unreasonable loss due to decrease in quantity sold of thelicensee's products. In addition, the rights of a licensor are alsoconspicuously jeopardized by suffering an unreasonable loss of beingunable to collect investment in development due to no payment of thelicensing fees, losing trust from the licensee and thereby having normaladvancement activities of the industry blocked.

[0007] Although the DVDs are already mounting a technological mechanismfor protecting copyrights of the movies and music recorded thereon,there is a problem that a portion thereof is exposed by an assault ofhackers and so on and reproduction software illegally incorporating orbypassing a copyright protection technology is distributed on theInternet. Furthermore, there is a situation in which the pirated-versionDVD disks using it are distributed and the pirated-version DVD diskscreated in large quantities by so-called bit-by-bit copying aredistributed and thus the pirated versions can be easily marketed,resulting in the circumstances where, in addition to the licensors, theinterests of the copyright holders of movies and so on are impaired.

[0008] Amid such circumstances, electronic distribution ofhigher-quality images and music and high-performance PC programs arereceiving attention and being considered as next-generation optical diskuses.

[0009] However, trust in the optical disks will be lost if the piratedversions are easily created without being licensed and the contents inthe optical disks are easily copied as previously described. For thatreason, it is feared that the optical disks may not be used in theelectronic distribution. Blocking the distribution of the piratedversions and preventing loss of opportunities are important objectswhich should be attained on all accounts by the next-generation opticaldisk system.

[0010] To attain the above objects in the past, the present invention isintended to provide the optical disk capable of blocking thedistribution of illegitimate optical disks and/or optical disk drivesmore efficiently than before.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

[0011] In consideration of the above objects in the past, an object ofthe present invention is to provide an optical disk capable of blockingdistribution of illegitimate optical disks and/or optical disk drivesmore efficiently than before and usable for construction of a licenseprotection system of the optical disks and/or optical disk drives.

[0012] To achieve the above object, a first invention of the presentinvention is an optical disk (ex. an optical disk 100) on which firstinformation relating to unique information given to a specific opticaldisk manufacturer or a specific optical disk (ex. secret information 102in FIG. 1) and second information of identifying an illegitimate opticaldisk manufacturer or an illegitimate optical disk (ex. informationrecorded on an infringement disk list 103) are recorded in advance,wherein said optical disk comprises an area in which encrypted dataencrypted based on said first and second information is recorded inadvance (ex. an area in which reproduction-only encrypted data 106 isrecorded) or an area capable of recording the data to be encrypted basedon said first and second information (ex. an area in which encrypteddata 107 is recorded).

[0013] A second invention of the present invention is the optical diskaccording to the first invention of the present invention, wherein thirdinformation relating to the unique information given to a specificoptical disk drive manufacturer or a specific optical disk drive (ex.information recorded on an encrypted data key list 104) is recorded onsaid optical disk in advance and said third information is also used forsaid encrypting.

[0014] A third invention of the present invention is the optical diskaccording to the second invention of the present invention comprising anarea capable of recording as fourth information the informationcorresponding to said optical disk manufacturer determined to beillegitimate or said optical disk drive determined to be illegitimate(ex. a recording area of an infringement drive list 108), said fourthinformation also being used for said encrypting.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the entire license protectionsystem of an optical disk and an optical disk drive according to anembodiment of the present invention.

[0016]FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of anencrypted data key list according to the embodiment of the presentinvention.

[0017]FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an update example of an infringementdisk storage table according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[0018]FIG. 4 is a diagram showing update examples of an infringementdrive storage tables a second infringement drive list and a firstinfringement drive list according to the embodiment of the presentinvention.

[0019]FIG. 5 is a relationship diagram showing a relationship between alicense administrative organization and optical disk, LSI and opticaldisk drive manufacturers according to the embodiment of the presentinvention.

[0020]FIG. 6 is a structure diagram of the optical disk according to theembodiment of the present invention.

[0021]FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a concrete example (1) of minutedisplacements according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[0022]FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a concrete example (2) of the minutedisplacements according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[0023]FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a concrete example (3) of the minutedisplacements according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[0024]FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a concrete example (4) of the minutedisplacements according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[0025]FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a secret information recordingsystem according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[0026]FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining operation of the secretinformation recording system according to the embodiment of the presentinvention.

[0027]FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a secret information reproductionsystem according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[0028]FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the secretinformation reproduction system according to the embodiment of thepresent invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SYMBOLS

[0029]1 First wobble pit

[0030]2 Second wobble pit

[0031]3 Address pit

[0032]4 Emboss data pit

[0033]5 Head unique length mark

[0034]6 End unique length mark

[0035]7 Groove

[0036]8 Recording and reproduction light beam

[0037]100 Optical disk

[0038]101 Control data

[0039]102 Secret information

[0040]103 Infringement disk list

[0041]104 Encrypted data key list

[0042]105 Normal data area

[0043]106 Reproduction-only encrypted data

[0044]107 Encrypted data

[0045]108 First infringement drive list

[0046]200 Optical disk drive

[0047]201 Secret information demodulator

[0048]202 Infringement disk storage table disk

[0049]203 Disk infringement determination/disk key generation portion

[0050]204 Disk key

[0051]205 License key storage portion

[0052]206 License key infringement determination/data key decryptingportion

[0053]207 Data key

[0054]208 Secret data key generation portion

[0055]209 Secret data key

[0056]210 Second infringement drive list

[0057]211 Infringement number updating portion

[0058]212 Infringement drive storage table

[0059]213 User data decryptor

[0060]214 User data encryptor

[0061]215 Network connection portion

[0062]216 Internet

[0063]217 Output user data

[0064]218 Input user data

[0065]300 License administrative organization

[0066]301 Optical disk manufacturer

[0067]302 LSI manufacturer

[0068]303 Optical disk drive manufacturer

[0069]401 Secret key

[0070]401 a Maker ID

[0071]401 b Formatter ID

[0072]401 c Cutting NO

[0073]402 Encryptor

[0074]403 Encrypting key

[0075]404 ECC recording portion

[0076]405 Secret information bit string

[0077]406 Displacement allocator

[0078]407 First initial value

[0079]408 First random number generator

[0080]409 Radial displacement direction sequence

[0081]410 First modulator

[0082]411 Second initial value

[0083]412 Second random number generator

[0084]413 Rotative-direction displacement direction sequence

[0085]414 Second modulator

[0086]415 Format timing generator

[0087]416 Phase shifter

[0088]417 Adder

[0089]418 Cutting machine

[0090]419 Optical disk master

[0091]420 Timing signal

[0092]421 Optical modulation signal

[0093]422 Optical deflection signal

[0094]502 Decryptor

[0095]503 Decrypting key

[0096]504 ECC reproduction portion

[0097]505 Secret information bit string

[0098]506 Bit allocator

[0099]510 First sum of products computing unit/bit determiner

[0100]514 Second sum of products computing unit/bit determiner

[0101]515 Address reading/data reproduction portion

[0102]516 Push-pull detection portion

[0103]517 Phase difference detection portion

[0104]518 Optical head

[0105]520 Timing signal

[0106]521 Push-pull signal

[0107]522 Addition signal

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0108] Hereafter, an embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed by referring to the drawings.

[0109] The embodiment described below shows an example of a licenseprotection system of protecting both licenses of the optical disk andoptical disk drive according to the present invention. This exampleincludes an example of the optical disk and optical disk driveconstituting the system.

[0110] 1. Regarding License Protection of the Optical Disk:

[0111] In FIG. 1, 100 is a rewritable optical disk comprised of controldata 101 and a normal data area 105.

[0112] The control data 101 is control information related to recordingand reproduction operation of an optical disk drive 200 which isrecorded by an embossed pre-pit, and is comprised of secret information102, an infringement disk list 103 and an encrypted data key list 104and so on as to the present invention.

[0113] The secret information 102 cannot be read by control datareproduction means of reading a normal pre-pit as described later. Thenormal data area 105 is comprised of reproduction-only encrypted data106 placed in the reproduction-only area, encrypted data 107 placed inthe recording and reproduction area and a first infringement drive list108 placed in the recording and reproduction area and so on as to thepresent invention. The reproduction-only area has the informationrecorded thereon by the pre-pit, and the recording and reproduction areahas the information recorded thereon by a phase change or magnetooptical mark formation.

[0114] The control data 101 has the control information on recordingpower and so on recorded therein in addition to the above, and thenormal data area 105 has an area of alternation process managementinformation and so on set up in addition to the above. However, theirillustration and description will be omitted since they are not directlyrelated to the invention.

[0115] The present invention uses processes of encrypting informationand decrypting it to reconstitute it, which can be performed by anordinary encrypting method.

[0116] For instance, it is possible to use a publicly known DES (DataEncryption Standard) algorithm (common key system) which is a blockencrypting method using an effective 56-bit length key. Although theencrypting method is related to the present invention, the number ofbits of the key and encrypting strength based thereon, a description ofthe contents thereof will be limited to the gist of the invention and adetailed description will be omitted.

[0117] The encrypting and decrypting are used at a plurality of pointsin the description of the embodiment. The encrypting and decrypting ineach case may be either the same method or a different method, whichshould be determined by a licensor in view of a level of confidentialityand implementation costs.

[0118] Hereafter, the contents of the information on an optical disk 100will be described.

[0119] Reproduction-only encrypted data 106 is reproduction-only userdata, and encrypted data 107 is rewritable user data. On reproduction,both the data is decrypted by an optical disk drive 200, and isoutputted as output user data 217. When recording input user data 218,it is encrypted by the optical disk drive 200, and is recorded as theencrypted data 107.

[0120] According to the recording method of this embodiment, all theuser data on the optical disk 100 is encrypted and recorded, and needsto be decrypted on reproduction.

[0121] Although an ordinary optical disk system generally encrypts andrecords the copyright-protected contents, but does not encrypt generaldata and free contents not related to the copyright.

[0122] It is the point of the present invention to also encrypt andrecord such contents. It is also thinkable, as a matter of course, torecord a part of the data in plain text inversely without encrypting itaccording to a separately established rule. However, a description willbe given here on the assumption that all the user data is encrypted.

[0123] As for the contents to be copyright-protected, an encryptingprocess entirely different from the present invention or the encryptingprocess associated with the present invention is performed in additionto the above encrypting process so as to ensure security comparable witha required level of a contents holder. However, concrete contentsthereof will not be referred to because they are different from the gistof the present invention.

[0124] While a recording and reproduction method of secret information102 will be described in detail later, the secret information 102 is theinformation having the embossed pre-pit embedded therein by a specialmethod of minutely displacing it at a level having no influence overordinary pre-pit reproduction. And the information cannot be reproducedby ordinary reproduction means, but requires special reproduction meansto reproduce it.

[0125] In general, there are the following two methods of duplicatingthe optical disk. One is a method called “RF copy duplication” wherebyan RF signal is reproduced and binarized to directly cut an optical diskmaster with the binarized signal, and the optical disk is duplicatedfrom a stamper created therefrom.

[0126] The other is a method called “copy stamper duplication” whereby acopy stamper is created by using a commercial optical disk as a motherto duplicate the optical disk.

[0127] However, in the case of the duplication by the former method, thesecret information 102 recorded by the special method unique to thisinvention is missed in the stage of the binarization process and becomesirreproducible. In the case of the duplication by the latter method, thesecret information 102 has the signal buried in noise and missed due todeformation of the pre-pit when creating the copy stamper so that italso becomes irreproducible.

[0128] The secret information 102 constitutes a part or all of keyinformation necessary for decrypting and encrypting of the abovedescribed user data.

[0129] Therefore, the above described key information cannot be obtainedon a pirated optical disk in which the secret information 102 is notembedded so that the user data cannot be decrypted or encrypted thereon.Also, a pirated optical disk drive having no means of reproducing thesecret information cannot obtain the key information, and besides, itcannot decrypt or encrypt the user data because it has no decrypting andencrypting means.

[0130] Thus, it becomes possible to eliminate the pirated optical disksand optical disk drives, which is the object of the present invention.

[0131] The value of the secret information 102 is a different value foreach cutting of a master of the optical disk 100, and is provided from alicense administrative organization founded by a licensor (a person whogrants a license).

[0132] The information on the decrypting and encrypting means or circuitinformation for the sake of implementing LSI is also provided from thelicense administrative organization to a licensee (a person who islicensed) A relationship between the license administrative organizationand optical disk, LSI and optical disk drive manufacturers who are thelicensees will be described later by using FIG. 5.

[0133] The infringement disk list 103 is intended to provide theinformation on the optical disks or optical disk drive manufacturersinfringing on the license to the optical disk drive 200, which is a listdescribing the secret information recorded on the infringement opticaldisks. The license administrative organization performs a follow-upresearch as to whether or not there is unjust distribution of theoptical disks in the market.

[0134] And in the case of finding the illegitimate infringement opticaldisks, the list describing the secret information on the infringementoptical disks is created, which will be provided to a legitimate opticaldisk manufacturer.

[0135] The encrypted data key list 104 is created by the Licenseadministrative organization, and is provided to the optical diskmanufacturer. The encrypted data key list 104 is a part of theinformation used for encrypting and decrypting of the above describeduser data, and is used when cutting the master of the optical disk 100.

[0136] Hereafter, a creation process of an encrypted data key list 104 bin the License administrative organization will be described by usingthe example shown in a pattern diagram in FIG. 2.

[0137] First, the License administrative organization determines onedata key 207 a for each cutting of the master of the optical disk 100.The data key 207 a is decrypted in the optical disk drive 200, and isused for the encrypting and decrypting of the user data. The Licenseadministrative organization determines a plurality of different licensekeys, and renders them as a license key list 205 a (there are n piecesof key in FIG. 2).

[0138] Next, the License administrative organization uses each licensekey in the license key list 205 a to encrypt the data key 207 a with adata key encryptor 206 a so that a consequent listing of a plurality ofencrypted data keys is rendered as a first encrypted data key list 104a.

[0139] There is a data structure wherein the encrypted data keys in thelist and the license keys used to encrypt them are corresponding by thenumbers given them respectively (#1, #2, #3, . . . , #i, . . . , #n inFIG. 2).

[0140] The License administrative organization causes one or morelicense keys extracted from the above described plurality of differentlicense keys by a predetermined rule to be stored as legitimate licensekeys by a license key storage portion 205 provided inside the opticaldisk drive 200 of the licensee.

[0141] As for how to have them stored, the License administrativeorganization determines allocation thereof, such as a different methodfor each optical disk drive or the same method per lot (a unit ofseveral hundred pieces for instance). It is assumed that the piratedoptical disk drives are created by exposing the license keys of alegitimate optical disk drives. In that case, according to thisembodiment, the exposed license key is nullified so as to render thepirated optical disk drives unusable.

[0142] In this case, the legitimate optical disk drives exposed at thesame time are also rendered unusable, and so the quantity thereof shouldnot be set so large in consideration of this.

[0143] To decrypt and encrypt the user data encrypted on the opticaldisk 100, the optical disk drive 200 finds the encrypted data keyscorresponding to the legitimate license keys from the above describedcorresponding numbers, and decrypts the data keys 207 by a decryptingprocess using the above described legitimate license keys so as toutilize them for the encrypting and decrypting of the user data.

[0144] Here, in the case where the License administrative organizationfinds the optical disk drive infringing on the license (an infringementoptical disk drive 20 in FIG. 2), all the license keys stored on theinfringement optical disk drive 20 (only one piece of #2 infringementlicense key 20 a in FIG. 2) are nullified.

[0145] From the first encrypted data key list 104 a created as describedabove, the License administrative organization renders as a nullifiedkey the encrypted data key corresponding to the infringement license key(only one piece of #2 infringement license key 20 a in FIG. 2) based onthe corresponding number (#2 nullified key 20 b in FIG. 2).

[0146] Thus, the encrypted data key list 104 b updated by theLicense-administrative organization is provided to the optical diskmanufacturer. And the information on the encrypted data key list 104 bis recorded on the optical disk master.

[0147] Consequently, it is recorded in the area of the control data 101of the optical disk 100 as the encrypted data key list 104 in FIG. 1.

[0148] Apart from this, the first infringement drive list 108 isconstituted so that, even after the optical disks 100 are distributed inthe market, as many numbers of infringement license keys to the opticaldisk drives infringing on the license (also merely referred to as thedrives) can be recorded by the optical disk drives. The details of thiswill be described by referring to FIG. 4 later.

[0149] Returning to the optical disk drive 200 in FIG. 1, the insidethereof will be described in detail. The optical disk drive 200 iscomprised of the following components.

[0150] To be more specific, it is comprised of a secret informationdemodulator 201 of reproducing the secret information 102 from theoptical disks 100, an infringement disk storage table 202, a diskinfringement determination/disk key generation portion 203, a licensekey storage portion 205, a license key infringement determination/datakey decrypting portion 206, a secret data key generation portion 208, asecond infringement drive list 210, an infringement number updatingportion 211, an infringement drive storage table 212, a user datadecryptor 213, a user data encryptor 214 and a network connectionportion 215.

[0151] The contents illustrated as to the optical disk drive 200 arelimited to the portions related to the present invention and requiring adescription, where the general components in the public domain such asthe optical head, signal processing portion, servo portion, errorcorrection portion and system control portion involved in recording andreproduction are not shown. Reference numeral 216 denotes the Internetconnected to the network connection portion 215.

[0152] First, the secret information 102 will be described by referringto FIG. 3. The secret information 102 demodulated by the secretinformation demodulator 201 has a code for error detection andcorrection added thereto, and is sent to the disk infringementdetermination/disk key generation portion 203 to have an errorcorrection process performed so that it is taken out as secretinformation 102 a (information contents are “Sx”).

[0153] The data of the infringement disk list 103 is reproduced by anordinary control data reproduction means (not shown). In an infringementdisk list 103 a in FIG. 3, only one disk having secret information “S7”is recorded as an infringement disk on the list, and other columnsthereof have “NULL” representing emptiness.

[0154] The infringement disk storage table 202 is a nonvolatile memory,which is a memory including write-once means of sequentially writingonce the secret information 102 of the infringement disk not enteredeach time the information on the infringement disk is reproduced on theoptical disk drive 200.

[0155] In the example in FIG. 3, only the infringement disk informationhaving secret information “S3” is recorded in an infringement diskstorage table 202 a until reproducing the optical disk 100 having theabove described infringement disk list 103 a. As the optical disk 100 isreproduced, the infringement disk storage table has “S7” written oncethereto as with 202 b, has the infringement disk added so that there aretwo infringement disks, and is sent to the disk infringementdetermination/disk key generation portion 203 to be compared to thesecret information data 102 a.

[0156] Furthermore, the infringement disk storage table 202 isconstituted to connect the optical disk drive 200 to the Internet 216 soas to obtain current infringement disk information via the networkconnection portion 215.

[0157] Though it is not shown in FIG. 1, it is possible to exchange theinfringement disk information between the optical disk 100 and theoptical disk drive 200 by placing a copy of the infringement diskstorage table 202 in the optical disk 100 as “the infringement disk listplaced in a recording area” just like the first infringement drive list108 described later.

[0158] Thus, it is possible, as to the optical disks once distributed inthe market, to have the infringement information propagated morepromptly, and so it becomes effective means of rapidly eliminating thepirated optical disks in the market.

[0159] The data on the infringement disk storage table 202 constitutedas above is sent to the disk infringement determination/disk keygeneration portion 203. And the data is compared to the restored secretinformation 102 a, and if something matching is discovered, therecording and reproduction operation of the optical disk drive 200thereafter is prohibited by recording and reproduction prohibition meansincluded in the disk infringement determination/disk key generationportion 203.

[0160] In the example in FIG. 3, when “Sx” is “S3” or “S7,” the opticaldisk drive 200 prohibits the recording and reproduction as a licenseinfringement disk.

[0161] This mechanism assumes the following situation. To be morespecific, it assumes that a formatter apparatus provided to the licenseeby the License administrative organization is stolen by an offender, andthe pirated optical disk is created by embedding the secret informationwhich can be generated by the formatter by means of conversion or abuseof the formatter.

[0162] It is also possible that an imprudent licensee analyzes theformatter and creates a pirated formatter which is unlicensed, and thepirated optical disk is thereby created. As that disk is the opticaldisk having correct secret information, even the legitimate optical diskdrive cannot determine it as the pirated optical disk, and so it can beused just as the legitimate disk.

[0163] To prepare for such a state of affairs, it is designed so that,apart from the ID unique to the formatter, the number is automaticallyupdated for each cutting in the secret information generated by theformatter apparatus.

[0164] In that case, it can be seen that the optical disks of thenumbers after the formatter apparatus was stolen are infringements(infringement formatter IDs and infringement numbers).

[0165] It is unthinkable that, when illegitimately recording the secretinformation, the above described offender records the informationleading to the determination that his or her disks are the infringementdisks on the infringement disk list of those infringement disks.

[0166] However, it is possible, if there is the infringement diskstorage table on the optical disk drive side, to determine theinfringement disks by putting the secret information on the infringementdisks on the infringement disk list of other legitimate disks anddistributing them in the market.

[0167] To be more specific, the secret information on the infringementdisks is stored on the optical disk drive having the legitimate diskmounted thereon.

[0168] For that reason, even if the infringement disk is mounted on theoptical disk drive thereafter, the recording and reproduction can beprohibited because it can be determined as the infringement disk.

[0169] As the secret information 102 is important information in termsof license protection, it may undergo some kind of encrypting in advancein order to keep it confidential. In this case, a decryptor of the abovedescribed some kind of encrypting and a decrypting key for decryptingare included in the disk infringement determination/disk key generationportion 203.

[0170] In the case where an arbitrary value becomes an encrypting key,the license protection system of the optical disk will be collapsed justby having a recording method of the secret information exposed orhacked.

[0171] To solve it, the following method should be adopted. Forinstance, in the case where the key is 56 bits, the values of 56 bitsare grouped into a plurality of groups which are then divided intoinfringement groups and legitimate groups.

[0172] The disk infringement determination/disk key generation portion203 should have a filter of determining whether a code generated therebelongs to the infringement group or the legitimate group.

[0173] 56 bits is a decimal number of 17 digits which is a very largevalue compared to the number of times of actually feasible cutting, andso a ratio of the legitimate groups can be vary low.

[0174] Consequently, there is a high possibility that, even if theoffender sets arbitrary secret information, it is caught as theinfringement by the above described filter.

[0175] As a hack can be implemented only by a time-consuming andexpensive round-robin tournament such as cutting and creating theoptical disk and then checking whether or not it works normally, it iseffective means of discouraging the offender from hacking.

[0176] Even if the key to the legitimate group is found, the key hackedby hard work can be easily nullified due to the distribution of theoptical disk, wherein the distribution is caught by the Licenseadministrative organization and the value thereof is registered with theinfringement disk list.

[0177] The disk infringement determination/disk key generation portion203 generates a disk key 204 for the first time in the case where thesecret information 102 of the optical disk 100 is not infringing on thelicense but is the legitimate information. The disk key 204 is sent tothe secret data key generation portion 208 of generating a secret datakey 209 of directly encrypting and decrypting the user data. The secretdata key generation portion 208 encrypts a legitimately inputted datakey 207 with the disk key 204 as the encrypting key so as to generatethe secret data key 209.

[0178] The secret data key 209 may be any information generated bycombining the data key 207 and the disk key 204.

[0179] For instance, the encrypting key may be the data key 207 and theencrypted data may be the disk key 204, or it may be addition orexclusive-OR of simple bit strings between the data key 207 and the diskkey 204.

[0180] It is desirable, for the sake of enhancing security, to use anunconditional function such as a hash function wherein the data key 207and the disk key 204 cannot be identified from the secret data key 209.

[0181] As above, encrypted recording and decrypted reproduction of theuser data are possible in the case where the optical disk 100 islegitimate, but the recording and reproduction are prohibited in thecase where the optical disk 100 is illegitimate (pirated version), sothat the license of the optical disk is ordinarily protected.

[0182] As for the condition of normally performing the recording andreproduction on the legitimate optical disk, however, it is limited tothe cases where the license protection system of the following opticaldisk drive normally works and the legitimate data key 207 is derived,that is, the recording and reproduction by the legitimate optical diskdrive.

[0183] 2. Regarding License Protection of the Optical Disk Drive:

[0184] Next, a description will be given as to the portion related tothe optical disk drive of the license protection system of the presentinvention.

[0185] The optical disk drive 200 performs the following process inorder to decrypt the legitimate data key 207.

[0186] First, it reads the encrypted data key list 104 by using controldata reproduction means not shown, and inputs it to the license keyinfringement determination/data key decrypting portion 206.

[0187] The license key infringement determination/data key decryptingportion 206 selects one of the license keys stored in the license keystorage portion 205 so as to check its number.

[0188] And if the number does not match with the infringement numbersent from the infringement number updating portion 211, it takes theencrypted data key corresponding to the above described selected numberout of the encrypted data key list 104 which has been sent, and decryptsthe data key 207.

[0189] In the decrypting process of the data key 207, the abovedescribed license key becomes the decrypting key, and decrypts theencrypted data key in the encrypted data key list 104. In the case wherethere is the nullified key in the encrypted data key list 104, thenumber of the nullified key is rendered as the infringement number bythe process in the second infringement drive list 210. This will bedescribed later.

[0190] In the case where the selected number matches with theinfringement number in the above step, the above described selectedlicense key is nullified (infringement) so that another effectivelicense key is sought. In the case where the license keys are left inthe license key storage portion 205, the license keys which are left areselected in order, and the decrypting of the above described data key207 is continued by the above described step.

[0191] Consequently, in the case where all the license keys arenullified, the recording and reproduction operation thereafter isprohibited by the recording and reproduction prohibition means includedin the license key infringement determination/data key decryptingportion 206.

[0192] In the case where all the license keys are nullified, the opticaldisk drive 200 has only the infringement license keys, and so it isregarded as the optical disk drive infringing on the license and has therecording and reproduction prohibited.

[0193] A description will be given by referring to FIG. 4 next as to thefunction of rapidly distributing the information on the aboveinfringement license keys to the optical disks already distributed inthe market and quickly eliminating the pirated optical disk drives.

[0194] The second infringement drive list 210 is the list for the sakeof extracting the infringement number which is the nullified key fromthe encrypted data key list 104 read from the optical disk 100 andholding it.

[0195] In the example in FIG. 4, only the number 2 is registered as thenullified key with the encrypted data key list 104 b (the same list asthe one created in the example in FIG. 2), and the number 2 of thenullified key is extracted therefrom and held in the second infringementdrive list as shown in 210 a.

[0196] The first infringement drive list 108 placed in the recording andreproduction area on the optical disk 100 has the infringement number ofthe infringement license key recorded thereon by another optical diskdrive having the optical disk 100 mounted thereon in advance (41, 2 and55 are the infringement numbers on 108 a in FIG. 4):

[0197] The infringement drive storage table 212 in the optical diskdrive 200 has the infringement number of the infringement license keydetected in the infringement number updating portion 211 beforereproducing the optical disk 100 stored therein (98 and 41 are theinfringement numbers on 212 a in FIG. 4).

[0198] The infringement number updating portion 211 finds theinfringement numbers existing on the second infringement drive list 210but not existing on the infringement drive storage table 212 and thefirst infringement drive list 108, and registers them with theinfringement drive storage table 212 and the first infringement drivelist 108 respectively.

[0199] In the example in FIG. 4, 108a already has the infringementnumber 2 registered therewith, and so no addition is made. However, theinfringement number 2 is not registered with 212 a, and so theinfringement number 2 is additionally registered with the infringementdrive storage table as shown in 212 b.

[0200] The infringement number updating portion 211 also finds theinfringement numbers not existing on the infringement drive storagetable 212 and the first infringement drive list 108 respectively, andmutually registers them with the infringement drive storage table 212and the first infringement drive list 108.

[0201] In the example in FIG. 4, the infringement number 98 existingonly in 212 a is additionally registered with 108 b, and theinfringement number 55 existing only in 108 a is additionally registeredwith 212 b.

[0202] Consequently, the description contents of the infringement drivestorage table 212 and the first infringement drive list 108 become thesame, and are updated to the infringement numbers of the infringementlicense keys identifiable at the point in time.

[0203] This is sent to the license key infringement determination/datakey decrypting portion 206, and is compared to the key numbers (L1 to Lmin this case) stored in the license key storage portion shown by 205 ain FIG. 4 so as to decrypt the data keys by using the license keys notmatching with the infringement numbers as the decrypting keys.

[0204] Furthermore, it is possible, for the sake of propagating theinfringement drive information faster, to implement more effectivelicense protection of the drive, if the optical disk drive 200 takes inthe infringement information issued by the License administrativeorganization from the Internet 216 via the network connection portion215 and allows the infringement drive storage table 212 to be updated tothe current infringement information. In this case, it is more effectiveto have the first infringement drive list 108 rendered as the same valueas the infringement drive storage table 212 by the infringement numberupdating portion 211.

[0205] As described earlier, the secret data key 209 generated from thelegitimate disk key 204 and legitimate data key 207 in the secret datakey generation portion 208 is sent to the user data decryptor 213 andthe user data encryptor 214 respectively so as to become the respectivedecrypting key and encrypting key.

[0206] To be more specific, the secret data key 209 in the encryptingand decrypting processes here function as common key in the common keysystem. The user data decryptor 213 decrypts the reproduction-onlyencrypted data 106 or the recorded encrypted data 107, and outputs it asthe output user data 217 to the outside of the optical disk drive 200 (aPC for instance).

[0207] The input user data 218 is encrypted by the user data encryptor214, and is recorded as the encrypted data 107 on the optical disk 100.

[0208] As described above, the optical disk drive 200 legitimatelyreceives the license key information from the License administrativeorganization. And it is rendered as a black box because disclosure islimited as to the information on a series of processes up to thedecrypting of the data key 207. For that reason, the legitimate data key207 cannot be obtained unless that information is provided from theLicense administrative organization, and consequently the secret datakey 209 of encrypting and decrypting the user data cannot be obtained.

[0209] To be more specific, the pirated optical disk drive incapable ofhandling the legitimate encrypted and decrypted user data determined bythe License administrative organization cannot normally reproduce thereproduction-only encrypted data 106 or the recorded encrypted data 107recorded on the licensed and legitimate optical disk.

[0210] Furthermore, it cannot rewrite the encrypted data 107 because itcannot normally read file management data recorded in the encrypteddata. As a matter of course, in case it can record the user data, it canonly record the user data which is not encrypted. And as the legitimateoptical disk drive decrypts it, the user data will not be reproduced asnormal data.

[0211] Thus, only the legitimate optical disk drive can normally recordand reproduce only the legitimate optical disk so as to eliminate thepirated optical disks and pirated optical disk drives and protect thelicense of the optical disk drives.

[0212] The above described the case of encrypting the entire user data.However, the optical disk according to the present invention and theoptical disk drives related to the present invention are not limitedthereto, but may have a configuration wherein a part of the user data isrecorded without encrypting (that is, in plain text) based on thepredetermined rule as previously described in order to reduce a burdenof encrypting and decrypting processes. It may also have theconfiguration wherein management data invisible to the user such asalternation process is recorded as is in plain text. However, aselection of recording all the files without encrypting becomespossible, if it has the configuration wherein the user can select simplyrecording and reproducing the data in the units of files withoutencrypting. Consequently, there is a possibility that a so-calledsecurity hole in which any disk is used in a state of no encrypting maybe created and the license protection function may be impaired.Therefore, it is desirable, in the case of recording a part of it inplain text as described above, to have the configuration wherein theencrypting and decrypting processes are indispensable to the recordingand reproduction of the user data, such as encrypting a part of sectorswithout fail.

[0213] In short, the optical disk according to the present invention isthe optical disk (optical disk 100 for instance) having firstinformation (secret information 102 for instance) on unique informationgiven to a specific optical disk manufacturer or a specific optical diskand second information (information recorded on the infringement disklist 103 for instance) of identifying the illegitimate optical diskmanufacturer or illegitimate optical disk recorded thereon in advance.It may be the optical disk of any configuration on condition that it hasthe area in which the encrypted data encrypted based on the abovedescribed first and second information (record area of thereproduction-only encrypted data 106 for instance) or the area capableof recording the data to be encrypted based on the above described firstand second information (record area of the encrypted data 107 forinstance).

[0214] The above optical disk drive may be the optical disk drive of anyconfiguration on condition that it has first information decipheringmeans (secret information demodulator 201 for instance) of decipheringthe first information (secret information 102 for instance) on theunique information given to the specific optical disk manufacturer orspecific optical disk recorded on the optical disk (the optical disk 100in FIG. 1 for instance), second information storage means (infringementdisk storage table 202 for instance) of identifying the illegitimateoptical disk manufacturer or illegitimate optical disk (informationrecorded on the infringement disk list 103 for instance), firstdetermination means (disk infringement determination/disk key generationportion 203 for instance) of determining whether or not the abovedescribed optical disk is illegitimate based on deciphering results ofthe above described first information deciphering means and storagecontents of the above described second information storage means, andcontrolling means (secret data key generation portion 208, user datadecryptor 213 or user data encryptor 214 for instance) of controllingreproduction of the data from the above described optical disk and/orrecording of the data on the above described optical disk based ondetermination results of the above described determination means.

[0215] 3. Regarding the License Administrative Organization:

[0216] Next, the functions of the above described License administrativeorganization will be described by using FIG. 5.

[0217] In FIG. 5, reference numeral 300 denotes the Licenseadministrative organization founded at least by involving the licensor,and it manages the information on the license of the optical disk systemand the information on the license protection system and provides theinformation to the licensee. Irrespective of whether the licensor iscomprised of a single company or a plurality of companies, the Licenseadministrative organization 300 may be the single company itselfconstituting the licensor or its subsidiary or a company other thanthose constituting the licensor.

[0218] Reference numeral 301 denotes the optical disk manufacturer, 302denotes the LSI manufacturer, and 303 denotes the optical disk drivemanufacturer, and all of them are the licensees being licensed by theLicense administrative organization 300. Hereafter, the former may bereferred to as a medium licensee, and the latter two as drive licenseesfor description purposes.

[0219] The arrow indicated by reference numeral 304 through 311 denotesan administrative mechanism determined by the licensor for the sake ofprotecting the license.

[0220] Hereafter, the administrative mechanism will be concretelydescribed by taking examples. It is clearly stated in advance that thelicense protection is not achieved only by these examples but isimplemented for the first time by secretly rendering it complicated andhard to notice and providing a number of barriers, and so a setup of themechanism not deviating from the gist thereof will suit the object ofthe present invention.

[0221] Hereafter, as to the arrows numbered in FIG. 5, the embodimentsthereof will be described by itemizing them.

[0222] (Arrow 304): The License administrative organization 300 suppliesto the optical disk manufacturer 301 the formatter used for cutting thestamper of the above described optical disk 100. The inside of the abovedescribed formatter has a tamper-resistant structure which isunanalyzable, and has the configuration wherein the information onlicense administration is basically kept confidential to the opticaldisk manufacturer 301 so that it is protected from an unexpected hack ofthe licensor. Furthermore, every time the optical disk manufacturer 301cuts the stamper, at least the secret information 102, infringement disklist 103 and encrypted data key list 104 are sent from the Licenseadministrative organization 300 via the network in order to countertheft of the above described formatter and a counterfeit of theformatter by means of an advanced hack technology.

[0223] When sending them, certification separately established for thesake of minimizing damage of eavesdropping, theft and so on isimplemented between the above described formatter and a server installedon the License administrative organization 300. To enhance security ofthe certification, it is desirable to use a certificate of a public-keysystem.

[0224] It is desirable for management purposes that the above describedformatter has the configuration wherein necessary information disappearsif the cutting is finished and supply of the necessary information fromthe License administrative organization 300 is rendered indispensable.

[0225] While-the network speed is as slow as it is now, the encryptingof the reproduction-only encrypted data 106 is locally performed insidethe above described formatter.

[0226] It should be constituted so that, if the optical diskmanufacturer 301 has the user data not encrypted stored in the abovedescribed formatter, the secret data key 209 is generated based on thesecret information 102 and the data key 207 inside the formatter so asto perform the encrypting process.

[0227] In the case of sending the user data (in plain text or separatelyencrypted) and returning it after encrypting it via the network, it isdecided that, as it is dangerous security-wise, the information isexchanged by using a protocol having both the certification andconfidentiality by combining a general public key cryptosystem with thecommon key system so that the information will be protected.

[0228] It should have the configuration wherein, as to the control data,the data to be set up by the optical disk manufacturer 301 and the datasent by the License administrative organization 300 are synthesizedinside the formatter.

[0229] (Arrow 305): Based on contract conditions with the licensor, theoptical disk manufacturer 100 pays to the License administrativeorganization 300 an initial or periodical license contract rate, arental expense for the above described formatter, a license fee perstamper created, a logo license and/or license fee for the number ofoptical disks sold and so on. In addition to reports on the abovecontents, there are the reports made for the sake of avoiding paymentsaccruing to the licensee in spite of no product manufactured due todefective test cuttings and stampers and the reports made as to amanagement condition of the above described formatter for the licenseprotection.

[0230] (Arrow 306): The license-contracted LSI manufacturer 302 willhave the information on the license protection system in the opticaldisk drive 200, in a form of limited disclosure or similar to a blackbox, provided from the License administrative organization 300.

[0231] Basically, it is secure to have all the means related to thelicense protection contained in one LSI. In particular, it is even moresecure if it is an LSI of the tamper-resistant structure of which innerpattern is occasionally destroyed when trying to open an LSI package foranalysis purposes. It is further secure in the case of using a method ofpurposely complicating a pattern inside the LSI or purposely mixing ameaningless pattern.

[0232] However, the license keys need to be stored for each LSI, and theprocess of mixing a nondestructive memory device such as a flash ROM, anEEPROM or a one-time ROM is required only for that purpose. And so it isalso thinkable that the license keys are not contained in the LSI in thecase where the price significantly increases.

[0233] In that case, the license keys are placed on an external memory,which may be the security hole such as being directly visible from abovea bus when inputting to the LSI. Therefore, it is required to place thelicense keys encrypted by a separately established method as “externallicense keys” outside and decrypt them inside the LSI so as to enhancestrength from the hack.

[0234] This method is called an “external license key cryptosystem” forthe sake of subsequent description. This method is basically determinedby the License administrative organization 300. It is a secure method ofproviding the encrypting keys and decrypting algorithms of the externallicense keys by rendering them as the black box (a net list of limiteddisclosure). To prevent the hack, the external license keys are modifiedby the LSI manufacturer or an LSI mask so that encrypted license keysare usable only for a specific LSI even if stolen.

[0235] It is designed so that the aforementioned nondestructive memorydevices are mounted inside the LSI, and a part of the encrypting keysand encrypting algorithms are related to their memory cells. As foraccess to the above described memory devices from the outside, the abovedescribed tamper-resistant effect can be dramatically improved byproviding the functions of collective or block erasure and writing sothat the memory contents can be referred to only by an inner encryptingalgorithm and so on. Accordingly, in the case where the security isespecially required, such a configuration is adopted.

[0236] (Arrow 307): Based on the contract conditions with the licensor,the LSI manufacturer 302 pays to the License administrative organization300 the initial or periodical license contract rate, license fee per LSImask created, logo license and/or license fee for the number of LSIssold and so on.

[0237] The number of the LSI manufacturers 302 is generally smaller thanthe number of the optical disk drive manufacturers 303, and they are ina position to easily grasp the number of LSIs sold. Therefore, thelicensor can reduce possibility of losing collection opportunities byfounding and adopting a “surrogate payment system” in which the LSImanufacturer 302 collects the license fee per drive to be paid by theoptical disk drive manufacturer 303 (excluding defects due to yields) onbehalf of the License administrative organization 300 and pays it to theLicense administrative organization 300 (the following description alsoshows a flow in the case of adopting the surrogate payment system).

[0238] As a matter of course, it is necessary to adjust a timedifference between sales and payment so as to be mutually satisfactoryand comply with the law. The LSI manufacturer 302 reports the producedand sold LSI quantities from the viewpoints of the license protectionand proper collection of license fees.

[0239] In the case of the external license key cryptosystem incapable ofcontaining the license key in the LSI, the license key is distributedonly to the optical disk drive manufacturer 303. Only the license keyfor testing is provided to the LSI manufacturer 302 so that thecombination of the LSI and license key from the LSI manufacturer willnot be stolen, and the strength of the license protection will therebyincrease.

[0240] In the case of containing the license key in the LSI, the licensekey is not provided to the optical disk drive manufacturer 303. In thiscase, the LSI manufacturer 302 is required to perform thoroughmanagement so that the LSI does not go anywhere other than the licensee,and needs to perform such management.

[0241] As for the license key, it is effective to implement a mechanismin the above described license key infringement determination/data keydecrypting portion 206, the mechanism capable of secretly embedding IDinformation of a party to whom it is provided, and in case the licensekey is exposed by malice or neglect on that party and illegitimatelydiverted, collectively nullifying a key group corresponding to the ID soas to disclose this to the other party and request reinforced managementregarding the license.

[0242] For this purpose, it is sufficient to add a filter function ofeliminating all the groups of the license keys belonging to theinfringement ID in the license key infringement determination/data keydecrypting portion 206 by using the information on a part of the licensekey as the ID information, adding an infringement ID to the abovedescribed encrypted data key list 104 and adding the data structure andprocedure reflected on the first infringement drive list 108 and theinfringement drive storage table 212.

[0243] (Arrow 308): The optical disk drive manufacturer 303 is providedwith general license-related information on the optical disk system in aform basically prohibiting disclosure to a third party based on alicense contract.

[0244] In the case where external storage of the license key isnecessary, the License administrative organization 300 encrypts thelicense key to be distributed by the external license key cryptosystemand delivers the number thereof equal to necessary manufactured quantityto the optical disk drive manufacturer 303. The license key is restoredby inputting it to the LSI manufactured by the licensed LSI manufacturer302 according to a predetermined rule so as to function as a normaloptical disk drive.

[0245] (Arrow 309): The optical disk drive manufacturer pays to theLicense administrative organization 300 the initial or periodicallicense contract rate, an issuance fee of the license key and so onbased on the contract conditions with the licensor. In the case of theabove described surrogate payment system, the license fee is paid by wayof the licensed LSI manufacturer 302. This will be described later.

[0246] In addition, a report on the production and sales quantities ofthe optical disk drive is made from the viewpoint of the licenseprotection and proper collection of license fees.

[0247] (Arrow 310): The LSI manufacturer 302 sells the LSI on which thelicense protection function according to the present invention isimplemented only to the optical disk drive manufacturer 303 certified tobe the licensee. That certificate is issued from the Licenseadministrative organization 300 on a route of the arrow 308. Thelicensed LSI manufacturer 302 needs to check it on sales.

[0248] In the case where the LSI of a type externally affixing thelicense key is used, the License administrative organization 300provides the optical disk drive manufacturer 303 with the license keyencrypted by the external license key cryptosystem according to the IDand mask of the licensed LSI manufacturer 302.

[0249] For that reason, the optical disk drive manufacturer 303 cannotproduce the normal optical disk drive without purchasing the LSI of theapplicable LSI manufacturer 302. The LSI manufacturer 302 sells thequantity of the LSI ordered by the optical disk drive manufacturer 303as the licensee. In the case of the above described surrogate paymentsystem, however, it requests the optical disk drive manufacturer 303 topay the license fee according to the quantity. In this case, a salesprice of the LSI and the license fee should be clearly distinguished inhandling.

[0250] (Arrow 311): As previously mentioned, the optical disk drivemanufacturer 303 places an order with the licensed LSI manufacturer 302for the necessary quantity. At the same time, in the case of the abovedescribed surrogate payment system, it pays the license fee at the pointin time when the optical disk drive using the LSI is actuallymanufactured and either shipped or sold (according to the licensecontract).

[0251] Results of performing the license fee payment are notified to theLicense administrative organization 300 so that the Licenseadministrative organization 300 can collect the license fee withoutdelay. As previously mentioned, it is not necessary to handle the pricefor the LSI and the license fee on the same conditions.

[0252] It is also possible, depending on the license contract, toprovide the license key to the licensed LSI manufacturer 302 or providethe encrypted license key to the optical disk drive manufacturer 303only on the payment of the license fee.

[0253] As described above, for the sake of the license protection of theoptical disk and/or optical disk drive, a management setup such as theLicense administrative organization shown in FIG. 5 is necessary inaddition to a technical mechanism described in FIG. 1.

[0254] The points of the management setup of the License administrativeorganization are the following four points.

[0255] (1) The License administrative organization manages a part or allof the secret information unique to the license such as technicalinformation and the encrypting keys related to the license, and providesthat information only to the above described medium licensee and/ordrive licensee in the form of limited disclosure or similar to a blackbox.

[0256] (2) It is a setup wherein the licensee has confidentialityobligation as to the secret information, and in the case of failing tofulfill the license conditions such as the confidentiality obligation,the optical disk or optical disk drive of the failing licensee no longerfunctions on the optical disk system.

[0257] (3) The License administrative organization finds out theinfringement optical disks and infringement optical disk drives based onmarket monitoring, licensee reports and so on so as to nullify them.

[0258] (4) It is a setup wherein the license fees are paid to theLicense administrative organization adequately and on a timely basis.

[0259] Various arrangements and combinations thereof, not limited to theexamples of this embodiment, do not deviate from the gist of the presentinvention as long as they are in compliance with these objects.

[0260] It goes without saying that the management setup such as thelicense conditions and limited disclosure of the information should notgive conspicuous disadvantage or inconvenience to the licensee and user,and should be considered and introduced to be implemented within thescope of the law and to the extent of not deviating from conventionalwisdom.

[0261] 4. Regarding the Scope Disclosed in the Embodiment:

[0262] The present invention is not limited to the scope described inthe above embodiment.

[0263] To be more specific, (1) In the embodiment, the licenseprotection of both the optical disk and optical disk drive can besimultaneously implemented. It goes without saying, however, that thelicense protection of the optical disk or optical disk drive can besingly implemented.

[0264] First, in the case of protecting only the license of the opticaldisk, the functions up to decrypting of the above described data key 207should be omitted. In this case, the secret data key generation portion208 only functions with the disk key 204 so as to generate the secretdata key 209.

[0265] Protecting only the license of the optical disk is on theassumption that the optical disk drive cannot be easily manufacturedwithout the information and know-how provided by the licensor or specialmanufacturing equipment and a protected key device, and that the piratedoptical disk drive cannot be created even if the license protectiontechnology is not daringly introduced to the optical disk drive.

[0266] Therefore, even if the pirated optical disk appears, that piratedoptical disk cannot be used because there are only the legitimateoptical disk drives.

[0267] In the case of protecting only the license of the optical diskdrive, the functions up to generating the disk key 204 should beomitted. In this case, it is on the assumption that, even without theprotection technology such as embedding of the secret information 102,technological barriers of the optical disk manufacturing are too high tocreate a pirated version, although the details are omitted because theabove description can be applied by reversing the optical disk and theoptical disk drive therein.

[0268] (2) The embodiment assumed the optical disk as a partial ROM of arewritable type or of a type having the rewritable and reproduction-onlytypes mixed. However, the similar license protection can be applied tothe recording and reproduction area of the partial ROM of a write-oncetype, a reproduction-only type or a type having a write-once typerecording area.

[0269] In the case of the reproduction-only type, however, the presentinvention has an advantage that the optical disk can be usedsubstantially in common irrespective of the recording and reproductiontype thereof except that the first infringement drive list 108 set up inthe recording and reproduction area cannot be used.

[0270] (3) The embodiment makes full use of the functions in FIG. 1 inorder to reinforce the license protection of the optical disk andoptical disk drive. To reduce apparatus costs, however, there is also athinkable embodiment wherein, while preserving the basic functions ofthe license protection, all or a part of the infringement disk storagetable 202, infringement drive storage table 212 and network connectionportion 215 is not implemented. Likewise, the combination ofimplementation can be determined for each optical disk system by theLicense administrative organization as a tradeoff with the strength ofthe license protection.

[0271] (4) The embodiment makes full use of the functions in FIG. 1 inorder to reinforce the license protection of the optical disk andoptical disk drive. To further reinforce it, for instance, the data keyis associated with generation of the secret information 102. To be moreprecise, they are associated by rendering seeds of generation of randomnumbers required to generate the secret information 102 as all or a partof the data key.

[0272] If thus arranged, the secret information 102 cannot bedemodulated unless the data key is given to the infringement diskstorage table 202 to generate the same random numbers. To be morespecific, the license protection is reinforced so that even an attemptof demodulation of the secret information 102 cannot be made unless itis the legitimate drive.

[0273] (5) According to the embodiment, the user data is encrypted andrecorded for the license protection of the optical disk and optical diskdrive. However, it is also possible, instead of the encrypting, to usean interleave function or a scramble function generally defined in anoptical disk format and implemented on the apparatus.

[0274] To be more specific, it is possible, even though not as much asthe case of using the encrypting, to implement reasonable security bychanging the method of interleave on recording and deinterleave onreproduction in the order based on a specific rule corresponding to theabove described secret data key 209 or changing the contents of ascramble on recording and a descramble on reproduction by the seedsdetermined based on a specific rule corresponding to the secret data key209 likewise.

[0275] Furthermore, it is possible, by these combinations including theencrypting, to realize stronger license protection without extra costs.

[0276] (6) The embodiment has the setup wherein the infringement disklist 103 and first infringement drive list 108 are recorded in theinfringement disk storage table 202 and infringement drive storage table212 respectively, and the infringement information from the Internet 216is also recorded in both these storage tables so as to rapidly eliminatethe optical disks and optical disk drives infringing on the license. Toprepare for the cases where, for the purpose of cracking to destroy thelicense protection system, an especially malicious license infringerfalsifies the information from the infringement disk list 103 and firstinfringement drive list 108 and the information from the Internet 216 topurposely render all or almost all of the normal optical disks andoptical disk drives infringing, it is appropriate, if the number of newinfringements exceeds the number of the infringement optical disks andoptical disk drives registered in the storage tables, to regard thatinfringement information as illegitimate, and so a measure such asprohibiting that infringement determination should be taken.

[0277] It is also desirable, as to communication on the Internet, toenhance resistance to falsification by performing the certification suchas exchanging appropriate certificates.

[0278] 5. Regarding the Recording and Reproduction Method of the SecretInformation:

[0279] Hereafter, as to the secret information 102 shown in theembodiment, a detailed description will be given about the embodiment ofits recording method and its recording and reproduction method by usingFIGS. 6 to 14.

[0280]FIG. 6 is an example of the pre-pit and groove shape of therewritable type optical disk 100, and the optical disk of performingtracking by a sample servo in a rewriting area is shown here. FIG. 6 isa drawing showing an expanded view of a track of the optical disk 100,where a user data rewriting area is shown in the upper part of thedrawing and a segment structure of a control data area is shown in thelower part thereof. The track is comprised of a plurality of segments.One segment is comprised of a servo area and a data area. The servo areais comprised of a first wobble pit 1 and a second wobble. pit 2 for asample servo and an address pit 3. A recording and reproduction lightbeam 8 is tracked so that addition signals of reflected light from thefirst wobble pit 1 and second wobble pit 2 become equal. Referencenumeral 7 denotes a groove provided in the data area of the user datarewriting area, and the recording and reproduction light beam 8 istracked and scanned at the center thereof.

[0281] The data area in the control data area is comprised of an embossdata pit 4, a head unique length mark 5 and an end unique length mark 6.The emboss data pit 4 shows the control data, which is recorded bypre-pit position modulation here. The head unique length mark 5 and endunique length mark 6 are used in order to identify the servo area anddata area. The recording and reproduction light beam 8 scans the embossdata pit 4 shown by a dashed line in FIG. 6 to read the control data.

[0282] The secret information 102 can be recorded by minutely displacingthe first wobble pit 1, second wobble pit 2, address pit 3, emboss datapit 4, head unique length mark 5, end unique length mark 6 and a groove7 in FIG. 6.

[0283] All of them are embosses created by cutting the optical disk 100,and are formed as concavities and convexities as a substrate beforeforming a recording film. As a precondition, the above described minutedisplacement is held down to a level of not blocking the functions whichthe embosses originally have. Therefore, it becomes the optical diskincapable of reading the secret information 102 even if theaforementioned “RF copy duplication” and “copy stamper duplication” areperformed so that it can be determined as the pirated optical disk.

[0284] As previously mentioned, the secret information 102 has anadvantage that, as it does not depend on the recording film, the secretinformation can be handled in common even in the case where the opticaldisk system handles the reproduction-only type, write-once type,rewritable type or various optical disks having combined them. As amatter of course, it is possible, in the case of the write-once type andrewritable type, to further record the secret information by means ofthe minute displacement of recording marks.

[0285] FIGS. 7 to 10 are the drawings explaining methods of physicallyrecording the secret information 102 on the optical disk as a “concreteexample of minute displacement (1)” to a “concrete example of minutedisplacement (4).”

[0286]FIG. 7 shows the displacement of the pre-pit in a rotativedirection of the disk (tangential direction) (reference numeral 7 a isgiven in FIG. 7), displacement of the pre-pit in a disk-radius direction(radial direction) (7 b) and change in the pre-pit size (7 c).

[0287] They indicate the pre-pit positions, addition signals andpush-pull signals from the top respectively. Their respective horizontaland vertical axes are circumferential/radial, scanningdirection/amplitude and scanning direction/amplitude. NM at the pre-pitposition indicates a normal position at which each pre-pit shouldoriginally be.

[0288] In a pre-pit rotative direction displacement (7 a) the positionhaving moved rightward from the normal position NM of the pre-pit is D0.A value following a symbol D denotes an angle when seeing the center ofthe pre-pit minutely displaced from the center of the pre-pit at thenormal position NM.

[0289] Therefore, the pre-pit shifted to the left in (7 a) is D180. AsD0 and D180 are displaced, the addition signals change as with SD0 andSD180 against a signal SNM of the normal pre-pit as if having thesignals shifted in a time-base direction respectively. However, thepush-pull signals remain 0 and unchanged as PD0 and PD180 against asignal PNM of the normal pre-pit respectively.

[0290] In a pre-pit radial direction displacement (7 b), as D90 and D270are displaced, the addition signals only have a signal amplitude reduceda little against the signal SNM of the normal pre-pit without having thesignals shifted in the time-base direction as with SD90 and SD270respectively.

[0291] However, the push-pull signals change against the signal PNM ofthe normal pre-pit as with PD90 and PD270 in proportion to thedisplacement in the radial direction respectively.

[0292] Thus, in the case where the pre-pit is minutely shifted in theradial direction and is detected by the push-pull signals, theaforementioned “RF copy duplication” cannot reflect the information onthe secret information 102 on the RF signals, and so it cannot createthe pirated version. Therefore, it is an effective method of recordingthe secret information.

[0293] In FIG. 7, as a method of representing the change in the pre-pitsize (7 c), the cases of rendering the pre-pit size larger and smallerin reference to the normal pre-pit size NM are indicated as LG and SLrespectively. As the sizes of LG and SL are displaced, the additionsignals change peak signal amplitudes to be larger and smallerrespectively without having the signals shifted in the time-basedirection against the signal SNM of the normal pre-pit as with SLG andSSL respectively, and the push-pull signals remain 0 and unchanged asPLG and PSL against the signal PNM of the normal pre-pit respectively.

[0294] To implement the cutting in this case, the pre-pit size should bechanged by modulating the strength of recording power or changingexposure length of the pre-pit.

[0295] In the case of considering the pre-pit as being isolated as inFIG. 7, there is no substantial change, but the pre-pit is continuouslyrecorded based on the specific rule in actual information recording, andso appropriate size modulation should be performed in consideration ofrecording density, light beam resolution and so on.

[0296]FIG. 8 shows a synthetic displacement combining the displacementof the pre-pit in a rotative direction of the disk and displacement inthe disk-radius direction in FIG. 7, where the display method is thesame as FIG. 7.

[0297] In the synthetic displacement of the pre-pit (reference numeral 8a is given in FIG. 8), the displacement directions of the pre-pit alonga straight line of a positive inclination 1 are indicated by givingreference numerals D45 and D225. In the synthetic displacement of thepre-pit (8 b), the displacement directions of the pre-pit along astraight line of a negative inclination 1 are indicated by givingreference numerals D135 and D315. Here, symbol NM is given to the normalpre-pit position.

[0298] The addition signals are shifted in the time-base direction aswith SD45, SD225, SD135 and SD315 and have the amplitude reduced alittle against the signal SNM of the normal pre-pit respectively.

[0299] The push-pull signals change against the signal PNM of the normalpre-pit as with PD45, PD225, PD135 and PD315 in proportion to thedisplacement in the radial direction and are shifted in the time-basedirection respectively. Therefore, it is possible, by using the pre-pitdisplacement of the synthetic displacement, to detect four types ofdisplacement statuses by combining the addition signals and thepush-pull signals.

[0300] It is also possible to extract four types of displacement justfrom the push-pull signals due to deviations in phases of signalpolarities.

[0301] In FIGS. 7 and 8, it is intuitively thinkable to increase theamount of information by rendering displacement angles smaller. However,the minute displacements are of a level low enough to exert no influenceover the normal pre-pit, and a predetermined number of them are embeddedaccording to a predetermined rule so as to record the informationequivalent to 1 bit of the secret information 102. Therefore, it may notbe so practical to further classify them.

[0302]FIG. 9 is an example of performing the minute displacements in thecase where the pre-pit is not short and circular as in FIGS. 7 and 8 butlong as when modulating a pulse width. FIG. 9 shows the displacement ofa long pre-pit in the rotative direction of the disk (reference numeral9 a is given in FIG. 9), displacement of the long pre-pit in thedisk-radius direction (9 b) and change in the long pre-pit size (9 c).They indicate the long pre-pit positions, addition signals and push-pullsignals from the top respectively. Their respective horizontal andvertical axes are circumferential/radial, scanning direction/amplitudeand scanning direction/amplitude. NM at the pre-pit position indicates anormal position at which each long pre-pit should originally be.

[0303] In the long pre-pit rotative direction displacement (9 a), thepositions having shifted leftward and rightward from the normal positionNM of the long pre-pit are represented as SFP and SFM respectively. Theaddition signals shift in the time-base direction against the signal SNMof the normal length pre-pit as with SSFP and SSFM respectively, but thepush-pull signals remain 0 and unchanged as PSFP and PSFM against thesignal PNM of the normal length pre-pit respectively.

[0304] In the long pre-pit radius direction displacement (9 b), upward(assuming a circumference) and downward (assuming an inner radius)deflections are SFO and SFI respectively. The addition signals only havethe signal amplitude reduced a little against the signal SNM of thenormal pre-pit without having the signals shifted in the time-basedirection as with SSFO and SSFI respectively. However, the push-pullsignals change against the signal PNM of the normal length pre-pit aswith PSFO and PSFI in proportion to the displacement in the radialdirection respectively. In this case, the “RF copy duplication” is notperformed as previously mentioned.

[0305] In the change in the long pre-pit size (9 c), the cases ofrendering it wider or narrower than the normal length pre-pit size areindicated as WD and NR respectively. As the width is changed, theaddition signals have the peak signal amplitudes changed to be largerand smaller against the signal SNM of the normal pre-pit respectivelywithout having the signals shifted in the time-base direction as withSWG and SNR respectively, and the push-pull signals remain 0 andunchanged as PWD and PNR against the signal PNM of the normal lengthpre-pit respectively.

[0306] In this case, the cutting needs to modulate the strength of therecording power and control the pulse width so as not to have thebeginning and end of the long pre-pit displaced, and so the control isdifficult but not too difficult to implement. On the contrary, it isalso possible to perform the displacement so as to change only the poweras with a short pre-pit and allow increase and decrease on both sides ofthe edge.

[0307]FIG. 10 shows an example of recording the secret information 102by minutely displacing the grooves shown by the number 7 in FIG. 6.

[0308] In FIG. 10, reference numeral 10 a denotes the displacement(wobble) of the grooves 7 in the radial direction, and reference numeral10 b denotes the displacement (change) of a width 7 a of the grooves 7.They indicate the (i) groove displacements, (ii) addition signal, (iii)push-pull signal and (iv) MO differential signal from the top downwardin the drawing respectively. The MO differential signal is effective inthe case where a recording material of the optical disk ismagneto-optical. Their respective horizontal and vertical axes are thecircumferential/radial and the scanning direction/amplitude for theremaining three items.

[0309] The radial displacement of the grooves indicated by referencenumeral 10 a is a generally used wobble method which is implemented bydeflecting the light beam on cutting according to the predeterminedrule. It is possible to place unit information there on by phase shiftkeying, frequency modulation and soon. It is necessary, however, to holdit down to a rate of change exerting no influence over the recording andreproduction. 1 bit of the secret information 102 is determined bycollecting a plurality of pieces of the unit information. As shown inthe drawing, according to the wobble method, there is no change in theaddition signal but the push-pull signal and MO differential signalchange in the displacement direction of the grooves 7. It is possible,by detecting this, to reproduce the secret information 102.

[0310] The displacement of the groove width indicated by referencenumeral 10 b can be implemented by light beam strength on cutting. It isrequired, as a matter of course, to hold it down to the displacement ofa level not eliminating a land to be provided between it and an adjacenttrack. In the case of this displacement, only the addition signalchanges according to the change in the groove width as opposed to thecase of reference numeral 10 a, and so the secret information 102 isreproduced by detecting it. Although it is not shown, it is possible, asa matter of course, to take a recording method whereby duplication ofthe secret information is difficult by combining the radial and widthdisplacements of the grooves.

[0311] As described above, the secret information has its 1 bitimplemented by collecting the plurality of pieces of unit information onthe minute displacements of the concavities and convexities (embosses)formed on an optical disk substrate. To be more precise, the embossportions of 1 to 7 shown in FIG. 6 should be minutely displaced in theforms suited to them.

[0312] However, it is desirable, in view of the signal quality, not todisplace the emboss portion which is a reference clock of a sampleservo, such as the rotative direction of the second wobble 2. It is notnecessary to limit the secret information to the embosses as in thisembodiment, but it is also possible to render unit recording as minutedisplacements of the recording marks in the cases of the rewritable typeand write-once type optical disks.

[0313] It goes without saying that the unit information constituting 1bit of the secret information is not limited to one type of variousminute displacements described above, but it is possible, as a matter ofcourse, to constitute it by combining the unit information in thedisplacements.

[0314] The methods of physically recording the secret information 102 onthe optical disk were described above as “concrete examples of minutedisplacements.” Next, the embodiments of the recording and reproductionmethod of the secret information 102 will be described by dividing itinto the recording method (FIGS. 11 and 12) and the reproduction method(FIGS. 13 and 14).

[0315] First, the recording method will be described. FIG. 11 is a blockdiagram of a system of cutting the secret information 102 and recordingit on an optical disk master 419, which system is the apparatus called aformatter except the cutting machine 418 and optical disk master 419.

[0316] The substrate of the optical disk 100 is created in the processof developing the above described optical disk master 419, creating thestamper and resin formation with the stamper.

[0317] In FIG. 11, reference numeral 401 denotes a secret key, which isthe information including at least the information on a maker ID 401 a,a formatter ID 401 b and a cutting NO 401 c and is given from the abovedescribed License administrative organization 300.

[0318] A part or all of the information on the secret key 401 is sent toan encryptor 402. Of the secret key 401, the remaining information atleast not sent to the encryptor 402 is recorded as a part of the controldata 101.

[0319] The control data 101 is sent to a format timing generator 415 andis recorded on the optical disk master 419.

[0320] A part of the information sent from the secret key 401 to theencryptor 402 may be used for so-called certification wherein it is alsoredundantly recorded on the control data 101 so as to compare theinformation from the control data 101 to the information from the secretinformation 102 and check that they are matching on reproduction.

[0321] The information sent to the encryptor 402 is cut as the secretinformation 102 on the optical disk master 419 as described below. To bemore specific, it is first encrypted by an encrypting key 403, has anECC (Error Correction Code) added thereto by an ECC recording portion404, and is constituted as a secret information bit string 405 andinputted to a displacement allocator 406. The displacement allocator 406provides instructions to a first modulator 410 or a second modulator 414for each bit number stored in the secret information bit string 405.

[0322] Both the first modulator 410 and second modulator 414 have atiming signal 420 of forming the pre-pit from the format timinggenerator 415 inputted thereto, and provide the radial minutedisplacement and rotative-direction minute displacement respectively.

[0323] The above described radial minute displacement is a signalgenerated by the format timing generator 415. And to implement it, anadder 417 is used to superimpose an amount equivalent to the minutedisplacement on an optical deflection signal indicated by referencenumeral 422 of deflecting in the radial direction of the light beamradiated to the optical disk master 419 from the cutting machine 418 andforming the wobble bit of the sample servo so as to minutely displacethe pre-pit in the radial direction.

[0324] The direction of deflection is determined by the value of aradial displacement direction sequence 409 generated from theinformation on a first random number generator 408 of which initialvalue is a first initial value 407.

[0325] The above described rotative-direction minute displacement is asignal generated by the format timing generator 415. And to implementit, a phase shifter 416 is used to minutely shift timing of an opticalmodulation signal indicated by reference numeral 421 of modulating theoptical strength of the light beam radiated to the optical disk master419 from the cutting machine 418 so as to minutely displace the pre-pitin the radial direction.

[0326] The direction of a phase shift is determined by the value of arotative-direction displacement direction sequence 413 generated fromthe information on a second random number generator 412 of which initialvalue is a second initial value 411.

[0327] The first random number generator 408 and second random numbergenerator 412 always generate the same sequence as with an M-seriesrandom number generator once the order and the initial value aredetermined. While areas of the pre-pit and so on are minutely displacedper unit by random numbers, it is basic to render the value almost 0 inthe case of integrating the displacement so as to exert no influenceover primary pre-pit detection in a low-frequency area.

[0328] A description will be given by using FIG. 12 as to a concreteoperation example of the formatter described above.

[0329] (12 a) in FIG. 12 shows an operation example of the displacementallocator 406. In this example, the secret information bit string 405 iscomprised of a bit string of eight bits of the bit numbers 0 to 7, andis inputted to the displacement allocator 406 by two bits from the highorder. (12 a 1) shows an example of inputting the secret informationbits, showing the status of having two bits of the bit number 3 (bit 3)and bit number 2 (bit 2) inputted as one set. Only the bit numbers 2 and3 are described below, but other bit numbers are also handled likewise.

[0330] Each bit of the bit string has the displacement specified eitherin the rotative direction (displacement area=1) or in the radialdirection (displacement area=0) based on a bit displacement areaallocation table shown in (12 a 3). In this example, the minutedisplacement in the radial direction is specified as to the bit 3because it is displacement area=0, and the minute displacement in therotative direction is specified as to the bit 2 because it isdisplacement area=1. The displacement allocation portion shown in (12 a2) has the secret information bits (12 a 1) and the bit displacementarea allocation table (12 a 3) inputted thereto, and the information issent to the first modulator 410 for the radial displacement and secondmodulator 414 for rotative-direction displacement respectively. As thebit number 3 is specified as the radial direction, the value “1” thereofis sent to the first modulator 410. As the bit number 2 is specified asthe rotative direction, the value “0” thereof is sent to the secondmodulator 414.

[0331] (12 b) describes the operation in the radial direction related tothe bit number 3. The first modulator 410 first has the radialdisplacement direction sequence 409 (12 b 1) having one of the values“−1,” “0” and “+1” as its element inputted thereto, and stores theresults of multiplying each element by the value “1” of the bit number 3in a calculation result sequence (12 b 2). When the value is “0”, it ismultiplied by −1 so that the displacement is rendered symmetrical to thecase where the value is “1.” The minute displacement is based on thecalculation result sequence. To be more specific, the pre-pit to berecorded on the optical disk master 419 is displaced to the inner radiuswhen the value of the calculation result sequence is “−1,” remains as iswithout displacement when it is “0,” and is displaced to thecircumference when it is “+1” as against the original recordingposition.

[0332] In this embodiment, a description was given as to the case wherethe displacement direction sequences 409 and 413 are predetermined 16bits and have the predetermined patterns shown in FIG. 12. However, itis not limited there to but it may be a configuration wherein thedisplacement direction sequences have the number of bits other than 16bits and patterns other than the ones shown in FIG. 12 are used.

[0333] As for the operation of the for matter, it determines theinformation on the pre-pit to be recorded by the first modulator 410from the timing signal 420, adds to the adder 417 the values of thecalculation result sequence (12 b 2) accommodating the displacement tobe given to each pre-pit in order, and modulates the optical deflectionsignal 422 to input it to the cutting machine 418. The opticaldeflection signal 422 having passed through the adder 417 becomesvoltage values wherein offset voltages of “−D,” “0” and “+D” are addedto the signal volume before the passage by outputs “−1,” “0” and “+1” ofthe first modulator 410. Here, D is the voltage value capable ofproviding a predetermined minute displacement to a deflector in thecutting machine 418.

[0334] (12 b 3) shows the results with a pre-pit sequence, where thepre-pit in the broken line has no displacement and the pre-pit in thesolid line has the above described radial displacement implementedthereon.

[0335] However, this drawing shows the appearance in the case of havingno rotative-direction displacement subsequently described. And in fact,it is synthesized with the rotative-direction displacement (arotative-direction pit displacement component 12 c 3 in FIG. 12) so asto form the pre-pit minutely displaced as the solid line of a“synthesized pre-pit displacement” shown in (12 d).

[0336] The values “−1,” “0” and “+1” of the radial displacementdirection sequences 409 are determined by the input from the firstrandom number generator 408. When the input is binary, “−1”, “0,” “+1”and “0” are associated with input bits of “00,” “01,” “10” and “11” byusing two bits as one set. In this case, “−1” and “+1” have the samefrequency of appearance, and “0” has a double frequency of appearancethereof due to the nature of the random numbers. To render the frequencyof appearance of “0” the same, a method such as inputting next two bitswhen the input bit is “11” is thinkable. It is also possible, when “0”is not particularly necessary, to associate “−1” and “+1” with “0” and“1” of the input 1 bit.

[0337] As for the reasons for creating the pre-pit without displacementby specifying “0,” one is to reinforce resistance to the hack from theoutside and so on, and the other is to enhance signal processingperformance by correctly inputting original pre-pit positions to asignal processing system.

[0338] In the latter case, it is possible to know which pre-pit has notbeen displaced by means of the above described displacement directionsequence 409 in the radial direction, and so detection accuracy of thetiming can be improved by filtering based on it.

[0339] A minute displacement amount given to the pre-pit is primarily ata level exerting no influence over the original signal. However, itnonetheless deteriorates a jitter of the original reproduction signal,and so it can be effective, depending on the modulation method, tocreate the pre-pit not displaced with “0” and render it as a reference.

[0340] As described above, it is thinkable that interweaving with theoriginal area without displacement is also effective to the areas to bedisplaced shown in FIGS. 7 to 10 without depending on the minutelydisplaced areas.

[0341] The second modulator 414 related to the bit number 2 performsalmost the same operation as the first modulator 410 (12 c). Thedifference is that the direction of the minute displacement is in therotative direction instead of the radial direction. To be more specific,the second modulator 414 first has the rotative-direction displacementdirection sequence 413 (12 c 1) having one of the values “−1,” “0” and“+1” as its element inputted thereto, and stores the results ofmultiplying each element by −1 equivalent to the value “0” of the bitnumber 2 in the calculation result sequence (12 c 2). Based on this, thepre-pit to be recorded on the optical disk master 419 is displaced onthe left side (the side advancing to the time base) when the value ofthe calculation result sequence is “−1”, remains as is withoutdisplacement when it is “0”, and is displaced to the right side (theside delaying against the time base) when it is “+1” as against theoriginal recording position. Here, a scanning direction on recording andreproducing an optical spot is from the left to the right in thedrawing.

[0342] As for the operation of the formatter, it determines theinformation on the pre-pit to be recorded by the second modulator 414from the timing signal 420, sends to the phase shifter 416 the values ofthe calculation result sequence (12 c 2) accommodating the displacementto be given to each pre-pit in order, and changes a delay amount of theoptical modulation signal 421 according to the values so as to controlthe timing of light beam emission time of the cutting machine 418. Theoptical modulation signal 421 having passed through the phase shifter416 is given delay times of “0,” “d” and “2d” by the outputs “−1,” “0”and “+1” of the second modulator 414. Here, d is the time equivalent tothe rotative-direction minute displacement, which is the valuedetermined based on the relationship with the number of revolutions ofthe optical disk master 419, usually given the delay time of “d”equivalent to the input “0” when the displacement is not provided.

[0343] As described above, the information on the bit numbers 3 and 2 ofthe secret information is corresponding to the radial androtative-direction minute displacements respectively (refer to theradial pit displacement component (12 b 3) and rotative-direction pitdisplacement component (12 c 3) in FIG. 12) so as to be eventuallyrecorded on the predetermined 16 pre-pits as the synthesized pitdisplacements (12 d) shown in FIG. 12.

[0344] The level of the minute displacements is the level at which, asthe minute amount exerting little influence over the original positionof the pre-pit, SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) is low and the displacementamount cannot be correctly measured just by one pre-pit. This is thepoint of the secret information, and the secret information may also becalled hidden information, which collects the minute displacementamounts from a plurality of predetermined pre-pits so as to clarify,only after then, whether the 1 bit of the secret information is “0,” “1”or “unrecorded,” that is, apparently no minute displacement is embedded.It should be “unrecorded” in the case of the pirated optical disk.

[0345] Next, the method of reproducing the secret information 102 willbe described.

[0346]FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a system of reading the secretinformation 102 recorded as the minute displacement amount of thepre-pit on the optical disk 100. The system shown in this drawing otherthan the optical disk 100 is included in the optical disk drive 200, andhas the functions centering on the secret information demodulator 201 ofthe license protection system.

[0347] The optical disk 100 has the secret key 401 processed as thesecret information and recorded thereon as the minute displacements ofthe pre-pits via the optical disk master 419 by the above describedrecording system. The reproduction system described hereafter reads thesecret key 401 in reverse order to that of the recording system.

[0348] In FIG. 13, the same portions as those in the recording system inFIG. 11 are given the same numbers.

[0349] To be more precise, the first initial value 407, first randomnumber generator 408, radial displacement direction sequence 409, secondinitial value 411, first random number generator 412 androtative-direction displacement direction sequence 413 should be thesame as those in the recording system. The secret key 401 set up by therecording system and the information included therein are reproduced byusing them. The control data 101 also has the same data as what isrecorded reproduced.

[0350] In FIG. 13, reference numeral 518 denotes the optical head whichscans the pre-pit on the optical disk 100 with the light beam toreproduce an addition signal 522 indicating a pre-pit amplitude and apush-pull signal 521 indicating the rotative-direction displacement ofthe pre-pit. The former signal is sent to an address reading/datareproduction portion 515 and a phase difference detection portion 517,and the latter signal is sent to a push-pull detection portion 516.

[0351] The address reading/data reproduction portion 515 reads a trackaddress of the optical disk 100 being focus-tracked by the optical head518, reproduces the user data (not shown) in the normal data area 105and the control data 101, and also outputs as a timing signal 520 apredetermined pre-pit position at which the secret information 102 isrecorded.

[0352] With a reference pre-pit having no radial displacement as 0, thepush-pull detection portion 516 standardizes the positive and negativeof the inputted push-pull signal 521 with the signal amplitude(including disturbance absorption such as reflectance) of the referencepre-pit, and sends them to a first sum of products computing unit/bitdeterminer 510 as the minute displacements in the circumference andinner radius directions of the pre-pits.

[0353] This signal is inputted to the first sum of products computingunit/bit determiner 510 as a positive signal when the pre-pit isdisplaced to the circumference with the inner radius as a negativesignal, where a product with an element of the radial displacementdirection sequence 409 is calculated per predetermined pre-pit, and thesum of the plurality of related pre-pits is calculated in order todetermine the value of the bit of the recorded secret information.

[0354] The value of the secret information in the radial direction whichis the result of the bit determination is sent to a bit allocator 506 ofperforming a reverse function to the displacement allocator 406 of therecording system.

[0355] The phase difference detection portion 517 generates by PLL areference timing signal equivalent to an original pre-pit position fromthe pre-pit which is a clock reference of the addition signal 522 and/orthe sample servo, detects the difference between each pre-pit and thereference timing signal as a phase difference, and sends it as therotative-direction displacement of each pre-pit to a second sum ofproducts computing unit/bit determiner 514.

[0356] This signal is inputted to the second sum of products computingunit/bit determiner 514 as the positive signal when the timing of thepre-pit is earlier than the original time and as the negative signalwhen it is later. The product with the element of the rotative-directiondisplacement direction sequence 413 is calculated per predeterminedpre-pit, and the sum of the plurality of related pre-pits is calculatedin order to determine the value of the bit of the recorded secretinformation.

[0357] The value of the secret information in the rotative directionwhich is the result of bit determination is sent to the bit allocator506 as with the value of the secret information in the radial direction.

[0358] The bit allocator 506 returns the inputted results of bitdetermination in the rotative and radial directions to the secretinformation bit string 505 in the same way of allocation as therecording method.

[0359] The secret information bit string 505 undergoes error correctionin the ECC reproduction portion 504, and is decrypted by a decryptor 502by using a decrypting key 503 having the same value as the encryptingkey 403 so as to restore the secret key 401 together with the controldata 101.

[0360] The secret key 401 is the information becoming the disk key 204which is a core part of the license protection system of the presentinvention by way of the process of the disk infringementdetermination/disk key generation portion 203 shown in FIG. 1.

[0361] Next, a more concrete example of the playback system will bedescribed by using FIG. 14.

[0362] This example is ready for the reproduction of the secretinformation embedded in the pre-pits by the recording method in FIG. 12,and reproduces the secret information in the reverse order to therecording.

[0363] To be more specific, the pre-pit sequence of the secretinformation is extracted by the timing signal 520 of the addressreading/data reproduction portion 515 as shown by a “secret informationtrack scan” in (14 d).

[0364] In this minute displacement of the pre-pit sequence, the radialcomponent (vertical direction in the drawing) and rotative-directioncomponent (horizontal direction in the drawing) are decomposed andextracted as the push-pull signal 521 and the addition signal 522respectively, and a radial secret information bit operation shown in (14b) and a rotative-direction bit operation shown in (14 c) are performedrespectively.

[0365] The radial secret information bit operation (14 b) is performedin the first sum of products computing unit/bit determiner 510.

[0366] First, the result from the push-pull detection portion 516 is apush-pull signal detection result sequence shown in (14 b 3).Consequently, the values of the elements of the sequence become manyvalues of an AD converter and so on in reality. For the sake ofsimplicity, however, they are simplified and indicated here as “−1” whenthe minute displacement is on the inner radius side, “0” when there isno displacement, and “+1” when the minute displacement is on thecircumference side.

[0367] Next, the sum of products with the element of the radialdisplacement direction sequence 409 shown in (14 b 1) is calculated toobtain the result thereof shown in (14 b 2).

[0368] In this example, there is no error in a push-pull signaldetection result sequence, and so it begins with the first elementcalculation result “0” and the calculation result of all the 16 elementsbecomes “+11.” The first sum of products computing unit/bit determiner510 arranges this calculation result so that, for instance, the originalsecret information bits of “−11” to “−3,” “−2” to “+2” and “+3” to “+11”are determined as “0,” “nul” and “1” respectively.

[0369] Consequently, the value of the secret information bit here isdetermined as “1,” and is passed to a bit demodulation allocation (14 a)of the bit allocator 506.

[0370] The rotative-direction secret information bit operation (14 c) isperformed in the second sum of products computing unit/bit determiner514. As with the radial direction, the rotative-direction displacementdirection sequence 413 (14 c 1) and phase difference signal detectionresult sequence (14 c 3) are prepared, the sum of products is calculated(14 c 2) to obtain the result “−11,” and the value of the secretinformation bit is determined as “0” and is passed to a bit demodulationallocation (14 a) of the bit allocator 506.

[0371] The bit allocator 506 contains the same bit displacement areaallocation table as the one used on recording as shown in (14 a 3). Theradial displacement at this time is the bit number 3 of the secretinformation, and the rotative-direction displacement is allocated to thebit number 2 of the secret information (14 a 2).

[0372] This information is outputted as a secret information bit outputas shown in (14 a 1) so as to form the secret information bit string505.

[0373] As described in the above embodiment, the optical disk accordingto the present invention and/or the optical disk constituting thelicense protection system of the optical disk drive are/is characterizedby having one or both of (1) the secret information recorded in the formonly reproducible by a special reproduction means and (2) the encrypteddata key list which was recorded, after performing a second encryptingto one data key of performing a first encrypting to the user data andrecording it with the predetermined number of numbered license keysrespectively and generating a list of the same number of the encrypteddata keys as the above described predetermined number, by changing tonullified keys the above described encrypted data keys corresponding tothe infringement license keys stored in all the optical disk driveshaving infringed on the license conditions by the point in time in theabove described list and constituting the above described list to besearchable with the above described numbers, and in that (3) the userdata is encrypted by using, as the encrypting key, one of the disk keygenerated based on the above described secret information, the data keydemodulated by the above described license keys and not being the abovedescribed nullified key, and a secret data key combining the abovedescribed disk key and the above described data key, and is recorded inone of the forms of the reproduction-only, write-once and rewritabletypes.

[0374] Thus, the user data is encrypted and decrypted by the secretinformation provided by the License administrative organization(corresponding to the first information of the present invention), theencrypted data key list 104 (corresponding to the third information ofthe present invention), the license keys (to be more specific, theinformation stored in the license key storage portion 205 of the opticaldisk drive 200 of recording and reproducing the data on the optical diskof the present invention, for instance), and the disk key and data keycreated respectively. Therefore, the pirated optical disks and opticaldisk drives not based on the license cannot derive the correct disk keysand data keys so that they cannot correctly encrypt and decrypt the userdata.

[0375] The above described optical disk constituting the licenseprotection system of the optical disk and/or the optical disk driveare/is characterized by including all or a part of (4) the infringementdisk list on which the secret information corresponding to the opticaldisks infringing on the license conditions is recorded, (5) in the caseof the optical disks having the recording area, the first infringementdrive list on which the numbers of the infringement license keys storedin the optical disk drives infringing on the license conditions areadded and recorded as the infringement numbers, and (6) in the case ofthe optical disks having the recording area, the second infringementdisk list on which the secret information corresponding to the opticaldisks infringing on the license conditions is recorded.

[0376] Thus, it is possible to effectively protect the license byrendering unusable as promptly as possible the optical disks and opticaldisk drives infringing on the license from the infringement disk list103 (corresponding to the second information of the present invention),the first infringement drive list 108 (corresponding to the fourthinformation of the present invention) and the second infringement drivelist (corresponding to the above “the infringement disk list placed in arecording area”).

[0377] The above described optical disk constituting the licenseprotection system of the optical disk and/or optical disk drive ischaracterized in that the above described secret information iscomprised of one or more information bits, 1 bit of the above describedinformation bit is associated with the pre-pit displacement of one ormore pre-pits embossed on the above described optical disk and/or agroove displacement of the groove of a specific length based on thepredetermined rule according to whether the value of the above described1 bit is “0” or “1,” the above described pre-pit displacement is theminute displacement which will not impair the original informationcarried by the above described pre-pit, that is, the minute displacementof a radial edge of the above described pre-pit and/or the minutedisplacement of a rotative-direction edge and/or the minute displacementof the size of the above described pre-pit, and the above describedgroove displacement is the minute change which will not impair theoriginal role of the above described groove, that is, the minutedisplacement of the above described groove in the radial direction orthe minute displacement of the groove width.

[0378] Thus, it is possible to prevent creation of the pirated disksbecause the secret information is difficult to analyze.

[0379] The above described optical disk constituting the licenseprotection system of the optical disk and/or optical disk drive is theoptical disk of a sample servo method comprised of a plurality ofinformation tracks, characterized in that the above describedinformation track is comprised of a plurality of segments, and the abovedescribed segment is comprised of the servo area having at least a pairof wobble pits for the above described sample servo and the address pitfor the track address embossed and placed therein and the data area forrecording the data, the above described data area has an embossed areafor the control data provided therein, having the configuration whereina head pit and an end pit of specific length are recorded at thebeginning and end respectively in order to determine the above describedservo area, and the above described control data information is recordedas a control data pit between the above described head pit and end pitbased on a specific modulation rule, and the pre-pits carrying the abovedescribed secret information are the above described wobble pit, theabove described address pit, the above described head pit, the abovedescribed end pit and/or control data pit, and the pre-pit change is aminute amount exerting no influence over servo performance, addressreading and control data reading.

[0380] Thus, in the case of the above described optical disk of thesample servo method, it is possible to select a hiding place of thesecret information from many kinds of displacements so as to allowstrong and effective license protection.

[0381] Essential portions of the invention of the above examples relatedto the present invention relating to the optical disk described aboveand invented by the inventors hereof will be disclosed below.

[0382] The contents of the essential portions of the invention to bedescribed below are (1) the invention relating to the license protectionsystem of the optical disk and optical disk drive (first groupinvention), (2) the invention relating to the license protection systemof the optical disk (second group invention), (3) the invention relatingto the license protection system of the optical disk drive (third groupinvention), (4) the invention relating to the optical disk drive (fourthgroup invention) and (5) the invention relating to the recording andreproduction method of the secret information (fifth group invention).

[0383] The above group inventions are intended to provide the technologyrelated to the license protection of the optical disk and optical diskdrive system in order to solve the problems of the above-mentionedtechnology in the past, which is a totally new concept different fromthe copyright protection in the past.

[0384] To be more precise, an object thereof is to provide the licenseprotection system of the optical disk and/or optical disk drive in whichthe optical disks and optical disk drives cannot be created withoutbeing licensed, and the optical disk, optical disk drive and opticaldisk manufacturing apparatus thereof. Another object is to provide tothe market the optical disk system having a base capable of implementingstronger copyright protection means as a result of introducing thelicense protection system of the present invention.

[0385] (1) The first group invention related to the present invention isthe license protection system of the optical disk and/or optical diskdrive, characterized in that the components thereof are at least theoptical disk on which at least first special information (correspondingto the first information of the present invention, which is relevant tothe secret information 102 and so on for instance, to be more precise)to be provided only to the optical disk manufacturer (medium licensee)licensed by the licensor and managed by the License administrativeorganization founded by involving the above described licensor isrecorded, and

[0386] the optical disk drive comprising storage means in which secondspecial information (relevant to the information recorded in the licensekey storage portion 205 for instance, to be more precise) to be providedonly to the optical disk drive manufacturer (drive licensee) licensed bythe licensor and managed by the above described License administrativeorganization is stored, key generation means of generating key data fromthe above described first special information and/or second specialinformation, recording and reproduction means of encrypting inputteduser data with the above described key data to record it on the abovedescribed optical disk and reading the encrypted user data from theabove described optical disk and decrypting it with the above describedkey data to output it as the user data, and recording and reproductionprohibition means of prohibiting the operation of the above describedrecording and reproduction means in the case where the above describedfirst special information is illegitimate or does not exist and/or theabove described second special information is illegitimate, and

[0387] a part or all of the information relating to the above describedfirst special information, the above described second specialinformation, the above described storage means, the above described keygeneration means, the above described recording and reproduction meansand the above described recording and reproduction prohibition means ismanaged as the special information unique to the licensor and isprovided only to the above described medium licensee and/or drivelicensee by the above described License administrative organization inthe form of limited disclosure or similar to a black box.

[0388] Thus, the illegitimate optical disk manufactured by an unlawfuloptical disk manufacturer who is unlicensed does not have the abovedescribed first special information recorded thereon, and so it cannotbe recorded and reproduced on a legitimate optical disk drivemanufactured by the optical disk manufacturer who is licensed.

[0389] The unlawful optical disk manufacturer who is unlicensed cannotobtain the above described second special information and the secretinformation unique to the above described licensor, and so thatmanufacturer can only produce the illegitimate pirated optical diskdrive capable of decrypting and reproducing the above describedencrypted recording. Therefore, that manufacturer cannot reproduce theencrypted user data on the optical disk which was recorded andreproduced by being legitimately licensed.

[0390] Even though the user data can be recorded on the legitimateoptical disk without encrypting it, the legitimate optical disk drivedecrypts the recorded user data so that the original information is notrestored. For that reason, it is possible to allow no exchange of databetween the above described pirated optical disk drive and thelegitimate optical disk drive so as to purposely eliminate illegitimatecompatibility. To be more specific, it is possible to exclude both theillegitimate optical disk and illegitimate optical disk drive from theoptical disk system comprised of the optical disk and optical disk drivewhich are licensed and legitimately manufactured so as to consequentlyprotect the rights of the licensor.

[0391] To be more specific, it is feasible to prevent the piratedoptical disks and optical disk drives from being easily manufactured andmarketed by the unlawful manufacturer who is unlicensed and protect therights of the licensor. According to the present invention, it isfeasible, as the creation of the pirated optical disks and optical diskdrives is impossible and also the user data is protected by theencryption, to provide an excellent optical disk system which is highlysecure and usable for distribution and storage of the contents withoutanxiety.

[0392] (2) Furthermore, the first invention in the above second groupinvention is the license protection system of the optical disk,characterized in that the components thereof are at least the opticaldisk on which the secret information is recorded in the formreproducible only by special reproduction means, the encrypting key isgenerated based on the above described secret information, and the userdata encrypted by the above described encrypting key is recorded as theencrypted data in the form of the reproduction-only, write-once orrewritable type, and

[0393] an optical disk drive comprising special reproduction means ofreading the above described secret information from the abovedescribed-optical disk, reproduction control means of prohibiting therecording and reproduction operation thereafter when the above describedsecret information is not correctly reproduced and generating the abovedescribed encrypting key based on the above described secret informationwhen the above described secret information is reproduced, reproductionmeans of reading the above described encrypted data and decrypting itwith the above described encrypting key as the decrypting key to outputthe user data, and recording means of, in the case where the abovedescribed optical disk has the recording area, inputting the user dataand encrypting the above described inputted user data with the abovedescribed encrypting key to record it in the recording area of the abovedescribed optical disk, and a part or all of the information relating tothe above described secret information, the recording form of the abovedescribed secret information, the generation method of the abovedescribed encrypting key, the encrypting method of the above describeduser data, the above described special reproduction means, the abovedescribed reproduction control means, the above described reproductionmeans and the above described recording means is provided only to themedium licensee and/or drive licensee by the above described Licenseadministrative organization in the form of limited disclosure or similarto a black box.

[0394] Thus, the pirated optical disk manufactured by the unlicensedmanufacturer cannot have the secret information easily recorded thereon,and so the optical disk will be meaningless being unable to record andreproduce the user data, resulting in protection of the license of theoptical disk.

[0395] The second invention in the above second group invention is thelicense protection system of the above described optical disk accordingto the above described second invention, characterized in that the abovedescribed optical disk is the one further having different contents ofthe above described secret information per predetermined number of theabove described optical disks and having the secret informationcorresponding to the optical disks infringing on the license conditions(corresponding to the second information of the present invention, whichis relevant to the specific secret information recorded on theinfringement disk list 103 for instance, to be more precise) recorded asthe infringement disk list, and

[0396] the above described optical disk drive further has theinfringement disk storage table of appending the infringement disksrecorded on the above described infringement disk list, write-once meansof reproducing the above described infringement disk list every time theabove described optical disk is mounted and on discovering the secretinformation corresponding to the infringement disk not recorded in theabove described infringement disk storage table, appending the secretinformation corresponding to the above described discovered infringementdisk to the above described infringement disk storage table, and therecording and reproduction prohibition means of prohibiting therecording and reproduction thereafter in the case where the secretinformation reproduced by the above described special reproduction meansis recorded in the above described infringement disk storage table, andwhen the above described optical disk is newly created, the secretinformation corresponding to all the optical disks infringing on thelicense conditions discovered up to that point in time is provided asthe above described infringement disk list by the above describedLicense administrative organization.

[0397] Thus, in the case where it turned out that the optical diskshaving recorded the secret information thereon by infringing on thelicense are on the market as the pirated optical disks, it is possible,by recording the information on the above described pirated opticaldisks as the infringement information on the legitimate optical disk andappending and accumulating that information on the optical disk drive,to prohibit the recording and reproduction on the infringement disks torender them unusable so as to protect the optical disk license morestrongly.

[0398] (3) Furthermore, the first invention in the above third groupinvention is the license protection system of the optical disk drive,characterized in that the components thereof are at least the opticaldisk on which the encrypted data key list is recorded, after performingthe second encrypting to one data key of performing the first encryptingto the user data and recording it with the predetermined number ofnumbered license keys respectively and generating a list of the samenumber of the encrypted data keys as the above described predeterminednumber, by changing to nullified keys the above described encrypted datakeys corresponding to the infringement license keys stored in all theoptical disk drives having infringed on the license conditions by thepoint in time in the above described list and constituting the abovedescribed list to be searchable with the above described numbers, andthe user data undergoes the first encrypting by the above described datakey and is recorded as the encrypted data in the form of thereproduction-only, write-once or rewritable type, and

[0399] the optical disk drive comprising list reproduction means ofreading the above described encrypted data key list from the abovedescribed optical disk, license key storage means of storing one or morelicense keys extracted according to the predetermined rule from theabove described predetermined number of numbered license keys, controlmeans of selecting the above described stored license keys one by oneand searching for the encrypted data key corresponding to that number todetermine whether or not it is the nullified key so as to proceed to anext decrypting process if the searched encrypted data key is not thenullified key or prohibit the recording and reproduction operationthereafter if the encrypted data corresponding to all the license keysin the above described license key storage means are the nullified keys,decrypting means of, when the decrypting is ordered by the abovedescribed control means, performing the second decrypting to the abovedescribed searched encrypted data key with the above described selectedlicense key as the decrypting key and generating the data key, thereproduction means of reproducing the encrypted data from the abovedescribed optical disk and performing the first decrypting with theabove described data key as the decrypting key to output the user data,and the recording means of, in the case where the above describedoptical disk has the recording area, inputting the user data andperforming the first encrypting to the above described inputted userdata with the above described data key as the encrypting key to recordit in the recording area of the above described optical disk, and

[0400] a part or all of the information on the above described data key,the above described license key, the above described first encryptingand decrypting methods, the above described second encrypting anddecrypting methods, the above described encrypted data key list, theabove described nullified keys, the above described list reproductionmeans, the above described license key storage means, the abovedescribed control means, the above described decrypting means, the abovedescribed reproduction means and the above described recording means isprovided only to the medium licensee and/or drive licensee by theLicense administrative organization in the form of limited disclosure orsimilar to a black box.

[0401] Thus, the unlicensed person cannot obtain the encrypting anddecrypting methods of the user data and a correct license key so thatthe pirated version of the optical disk cannot be easily created. Evenif the optical disk drive which is seemingly the same as the legitimateone is created by obtaining the information, materials and so on byunlawful means, the License administrative organization can find out thepirated optical disk drive and render it unusable by nullifying thecorresponding license key and reflecting it on the optical disksthereafter. The license of the optical disk drive can be securelyprotected by the above method.

[0402] The second invention in the above third group invention is thelicense protection system of the above described optical disk driveaccording to the above described first invention, characterized in thatthe above described optical disk having the recording area is theoptical disk further having recorded thereon the first infringementdrive list on which the numbers of the infringement license keys storedin the optical disk drives infringing on the license conditions areadded as the infringement numbers, and the above described optical diskdrive is the optical disk drive further having the infringement drivestorage table capable of additionally recording the numbers of theinfringement license keys stored in the optical disk drives infringingon the license conditions as the infringement numbers, search means ofreproducing the above described encrypted data key list and generatingthe numbers corresponding to the nullified keys as the secondinfringement drive list every time the above described optical disk ismounted, first infringement number updating means of reproducing theabove described first infringement drive list if recorded on the abovedescribed optical disk on the above described mounting and appending tothe above described first infringement drive list the infringementnumbers stored in the above described infringement drive storage tableand the above described second infringement drive list but not stored inthe above described first infringement drive list, second infringementnumber updating means of appending to the above described infringementdrive storage table the infringement numbers stored in the abovedescribed first infringement drive list and the above described secondinfringement drive list but not stored in the above describedinfringement drive storage table, and the control means of, in the casewhere the numbers of the license keys stored in the above describedlicense key storage means match with the infringement numbers stored inthe above described first infringement drive list, the above describedinfringement drive storage table and the above described secondinfringement drive list, prohibiting the decrypting and encryptingoperations by the above described matching license keys.

[0403] Thus, it is possible, by the setup capable of adding theinformation on the optical disk drives having infringed on the licenseas common information to the optical disks and optical disk drives, topropagate and expand the infringement information fixed on the opticaldisks and further strengthen the license protection of the optical diskdrives.

[0404] The third invention in the above third group invention is thelicense protection system of the optical disk drive of the abovedescribed first or second invention, characterized in that the abovedescribed optical disk drive is the optical disk drive further havingnetwork connection means and third infringement number updating means oftaking in the latest infringement numbers provided by the Licenseadministrative organization from the above described network connectionmeans and appending to the above described infringement drive storagetable the infringement numbers which are not in the above describedinfringement drive storage table.

[0405] Thus, it is possible to transmit the latest infringementinformation distributable only by sales of the recorded optical disksearlier to the optical disk drives so as to implement more effectivelicense protection of the optical disk drive.

[0406] The fourth invention in the above third group invention is thelicense protection system of the above described optical disk driveaccording to the above described first, second or third invention,characterized in that

[0407] the above described optical disk is the optical disk furtherhaving recorded thereon the secret information in the form onlyreproducible by the special reproduction means, and the above describedoptical disk drive is the optical disk drive further having the specialreproduction means of reading the above described secret informationfrom the above described optical disk, the reproduction control means ofprohibiting the recording and reproduction operation thereafter when theabove described secret information is not correctly reproduced andgenerating a third encrypting key based on the above described secretinformation when the above described secret information is reproduced,secret data key generation means of generating a first secret data keyhaving performed a third encrypting to the above described decrypteddata key with the data on the above described third encrypting key asthe encrypting key or a second secret data key having performed a thirdencrypting to the above described third encrypting key with the data onthe above described decrypted data key as the encrypting key, and

[0408] the user data on the above described optical disk is recorded inone of the forms of the reproduction-only, write-once and rewritabletypes as the encrypted data to which the first encrypting has beenperformed with the above described first secret data key or the abovedescribed second secret data key as the encrypting key, and

[0409] the decrypting key of the above described reproduction means ofthe above described optical disk drive is the above described firstsecret data key or the above described second secret data key, and inthe case where the above described optical disk has the recording area,the encrypting keys of the above described recording means are the abovedescribed first secret data key or the above described second secretdata key respectively, and

[0410] a part or all of the information on the above described secretinformation, the above described special reproduction means, the abovedescribed reproduction control means, the above described secret datakey generation means, the above described method of generating the thirdencrypting key, the above described first secret data key and the abovedescribed second secret data key is provided only to the medium licenseeand/or drive licensee by the License administrative organization in theform of limited disclosure or similar to a black box, and the licenseprotection system of the above described optical disk drive further hasthe function of protecting the license of the optical disk.

[0411] Thus, it is possible to simultaneously protect the license of theoptical disk in addition to the optical disk drive.

[0412] The fifth invention in the above third group invention is thelicense protection system of the optical disk drive according to theabove described fourth invention, characterized in that

[0413] the above described optical disk is the optical disk furtherhaving recorded thereon different contents of the above described secretinformation per predetermined number of the above described opticaldisks and having the secret information corresponding to the opticaldisks infringing on the license conditions as the infringement disklist, and

[0414] the above described optical disk drive further has theinfringement disk storage table of appending the infringement disksrecorded on the above described infringement disk list, the appendingmeans of reproducing the above described infringement disk list everytime the above described optical disk is mounted and on discovering thesecret information corresponding to the infringement disk not recordedin the above described infringement disk storage table, appending thesecret information corresponding to the above described discoveredinfringement disk to the above described infringement disk storagetable, and the recording and reproduction prohibition means ofprohibiting the recording and reproduction thereafter in the case wherethe secret information reproduced by the above described specialreproduction means is recorded in the above described infringement diskstorage table, and

[0415] when the above described optical disk is newly created, thesecret information corresponding to all the optical disks infringing onthe license conditions discovered up to that point in time is providedas the above described infringement disk list by the above describedLicense administrative organization.

[0416] Thus, it is possible to protect the license of the optical diskby prohibiting the recording and reproduction of the optical disksinfringing on the license in addition to the license protection of theoptical disk drive.

[0417] (4) Furthermore, the first invention in the above fourth groupinvention is the optical disk drive comprising

[0418] the first information deciphering means (secret informationdemodulator 201 for instance) of deciphering the first information(secret information 102 for instance) relating to the unique informationgiven to the specific optical disk manufacturer or specific optical diskrecorded on the optical disk (the optical disk 100 in FIG. 1 forinstance), the second information storage means (infringement diskstorage table 202 for instance) of obtaining

[0419] the second information of identifying the illegitimate opticaldisk manufacturer or illegitimate optical disk (information recorded onthe infringement disk list 103 for instance),

[0420] the first determination means (disk infringementdetermination/disk key generation portion 203 for instance) ofdetermining whether or not the above described optical disk isillegitimate based on the deciphering results of the above describedfirst information deciphering means and the storage contents of theabove described second information storage means, and

[0421] the control means (secret data key generation portion 208, userdata decryptor 213 or user data encryptor 214 for instance) ofcontrolling reproduction of the data from the above described opticaldisk and/or recording of the data on the above described optical diskbased on the determination result of the above described determinationmeans.

[0422] The second invention in the above fourth group invention is theoptical disk drive according to the above first invention, wherein theabove described second information is the information recorded on theabove described optical disk in advance and/or obtained via the Internet(the Internet 216 in FIG. 1 for instance).

[0423] The third invention in the above fourth group invention is theoptical disk drive according to the above first invention comprising

[0424] unique information storage means (license key storage portion 205for instance) of storing apparatus unique information given to aspecific optical disk manufacturer or a specific optical disk drive, and

[0425] second determination means (license key infringementdetermination/data key decrypting portion 206 for instance) of readingthe above described apparatus unique information and check it againstthird information (information recorded on the encrypted data key list104 for instance) on the above described apparatus unique informationrecorded on the above described optical disk in advance to determinewhether or not the above described optical disk drive manufacturer isillegitimate or whether or not the above described optical disk drive isillegitimate, wherein

[0426] the above described control means also utilizes the determinationresult of the above described second determination means.

[0427] The fourth invention in the above fourth group invention is theoptical disk drive according to the above third invention comprising

[0428] fourth information storage means (second infringement drive list210 and infringement drive storage table 212 for instance) of obtainingand storing the fourth information corresponding to the optical diskmanufacturer or optical disk drive determined to be illegitimate, and

[0429] updating means (infringement number updating portion 211 forinstance) of updating and recording the above described fourthinformation in the data area of the above described optical disk basedon the storage contents of the above described fourth informationstorage means, wherein

[0430] the above described second determination means makes the abovedescribed determination by also utilizing the processing result of theabove described updating means.

[0431] Thus, it is possible to provide the optical disk drive capable ofblocking the distribution of the illegitimate optical disks and/oroptical disk drives more effectively than before.

[0432] Furthermore, the fifth invention in the above fourth groupinvention is the optical disk drive constituting the license protectionsystem of the optical disk characterized by comprising

[0433] the special reproduction means of reading the secret informationfrom the optical disk on which the above described secret information isrecorded in the form reproducible only by the special reproduction meansand the encrypting key is generated based on the above described secretinformation and the user data encrypted by the above describedencrypting key is recorded as the encrypted data in the form of thereproduction-only, write-once or rewritable type,

[0434] the reproduction control means of prohibiting the recording andreproduction operation thereafter when the above described secretinformation is not correctly reproduced and generating the abovedescribed encrypting key based on the above described secret informationwhen the above described secret information is reproduced,

[0435] reproduction means of reading the above described encrypted dataand decrypting it with the above described encrypting key as thedecrypting key to output the user data, and

[0436] recording means of, in the case where the above described opticaldisk has the recording area, inputting the user data and encrypting theabove described inputted user data with the above described encryptingkey to record it in the recording area of the above described opticaldisk.

[0437] Thus, it is possible to protect the license of the optical diskby rendering the optical disks on which correct secret information isnot recorded unable to implement recording and reproduction as thepirated version which is unlicensed.

[0438] Furthermore, the sixth invention in the above fourth groupinvention is the optical disk drive according to the above fifthinvention constituting the license protection system of the opticaldisk, wherein

[0439] the above described optical disk is the optical diskcharacterized by further having different contents of the abovedescribed secret information per predetermined number of the abovedescribed optical disks and having the secret information correspondingto the optical disks infringing on the license conditions recorded asthe infringement disk list, and

[0440] the above described optical disk drive further has theinfringement disk storage table of appending the infringement disksrecorded on the above described infringement disk list, appending meansof reproducing the above described infringement disk list every time theabove described optical disk is mounted and on discovering the secretinformation corresponding to the infringement disk not recorded in theabove described infringement disk storage table, appending the secretinformation corresponding to the above described discovered infringementdisk to the above described infringement disk storage table, and therecording and reproduction prohibition means of prohibiting therecording and reproduction thereafter in the case where the secretinformation reproduced by the above described special reproduction meansis recorded in the above described infringement disk storage table.

[0441] Thus, it is possible, as the infringement information recorded onthe optical disks infringing on the license can be accumulated on theoptical disk drive, to effectively eliminate the pirated optical diskswithout relying on the infringement information on the optical disk.

[0442] Furthermore, the seventh invention in the above fourth groupinvention is the optical disk drive constituting the license protectionsystem of the optical disk and/or optical disk drive, characterized byhaving the reproduction means of reading the encrypted data key listfrom the optical disk on which the above described encrypted data keylist is recorded after performing the second encrypting to one data keyof performing the first encrypting to the user data to record it with apredetermined number of numbered license and generating a list of thesame number of the encrypted data keys as the above describedpredetermined number, and the above described encrypted data keyscorresponding to the infringement license keys stored in all the opticaldisk drives having infringed on the license conditions by the point intime in the above described list are changed to the nullified keys andthe above described list is constituted to be searchable with the abovedescribed numbers, and the user data undergoes the first encrypting bythe above described data key and is recorded as the encrypted data inthe form of the reproduction-only, write-once or rewritable type,

[0443] license key storage means of storing one or more license keysextracted according to the predetermined rule from the above describedpredetermined number of numbered license keys, control means ofselecting the above described stored license keys one by one andsearching for the encrypted data key corresponding to that number todetermine whether or not it is the nullified key so as to proceed to anext decrypting process if it is not the nullified key or prohibit therecording and reproduction operation thereafter if the encrypted datakeys corresponding to all the license keys in the above describedlicense key storage means are the nullified keys,

[0444] decrypting means of, when the decrypting is ordered by the abovedescribed control means, performing the second decrypting to the abovedescribed searched encrypted data key with the above described selectedlicense key as the decrypting key and generating the data key,

[0445] the reproduction means of reproducing the encrypted data from theabove described optical disk and performing the first decrypting withthe above described data key as the decrypting key to output the userdata, and the recording means of, in the case where the above describedoptical disk has the recording area, inputting the user data andperforming the first encrypting to the above described inputted userdata with the above described data key as the encrypting key to recordit in the recording area of the above described optical disk.

[0446] Thus, it is possible to effectively protect the license becauseonly the non-pirated optical disk drive formally licensed and notnullified can implement normal recording and reproduction whereas thepirated optical disk drive cannot do so being unable to generate theencrypting key related to the recording and reproduction of the userdata.

[0447] Furthermore, the eighth invention in the above fourth groupinvention is the above described optical disk drive according to theabove seventh invention constituting the license protection system ofthe optical disk and/or optical disk drive, characterized in that

[0448] the above described optical disk having the recording area is theoptical disk further having recorded thereon the first infringementdrive list on which the number of the infringement license key stored inthe optical disk drive infringing on the license conditions are added asthe infringement number, and

[0449] the above described optical disk drive is the optical disk drivefurther having the infringement drive storage table capable ofadditionally recording the numbers of the infringement license keysstored in the optical disk drives infringing on the license conditionsas the infringement numbers, the search means of reproducing the abovedescribed encrypted data key list and generating the numbercorresponding to the nullified key as the second infringement drive listevery time the above described optical disk is mounted, the firstinfringement number updating means of reproducing the above describedfirst infringement drive list if recorded on the above described opticaldisk on the above described mounting and appending to the abovedescribed first infringement drive list the infringement number storedin the above described infringement drive storage table and the abovedescribed second infringement drive list but not stored in the abovedescribed first infringement drive list, second infringement numberupdating means of appending to the above described infringement drivestorage table the infringement number stored in the above describedfirst infringement drive list and the above described secondinfringement drive list but not stored in the above describedinfringement drive storage table, and the control means of, in the casewhere the number of the license key stored in the above describedlicense key storage means match with the infringement number stored inthe above described first infringement drive list, the above describedinfringement drive storage table and the above described secondinfringement drive list, prohibiting the decrypting and encryptingoperations by the above described matching license key.

[0450] Thus, it is possible to strengthen the license protection byeffectively diffusing and settling the license infringement informationin the optical disk system protected by the license.

[0451] The ninth invention in the above fourth group invention is theabove described optical disk drive according to the above seventh oreighth invention constituting the license protection system of theoptical disk and/or optical disk drive, characterized by further havingthe network connection means and the third infringement number updatingmeans of taking in the latest infringement numbers provided by theLicense administrative organization from the above described networkconnection means and appending to the above described infringement drivestorage table the infringement numbers which are not in the abovedescribed infringement drive storage table.

[0452] Thus, it is possible to further strengthen the license protectionby effectively diffusing and settling the license infringementinformation in the optical disk system protected by the license withoutdelay.

[0453] The tenth invention in the above fourth group invention is theabove described optical disk drive according to the above seventh oreighth invention constituting the license protection system of theoptical disk and/or optical disk drive, characterized that the abovedescribed optical disk is the optical disk further having recordedthereon the secret information in the form only reproducible by thespecial reproduction means, and

[0454] the above described optical disk drive is the optical disk drivefurther having the special reproduction means of reading the abovedescribed secret information from the above described optical disk, thereproduction control means of prohibiting the recording and reproductionoperation thereafter when the above described secret information is notcorrectly reproduced and generating the third encrypting key based onthe above described secret information when the above described secretinformation is reproduced, the secret data key generation means ofgenerating the first secret data key having performed the thirdencrypting to the above described decrypted data key with the data onthe above described third encrypting key as the encrypting key or thesecond secret data key having performed the third encrypting to theabove described third encrypting key with the data on the abovedescribed decrypted data key as the encrypting key, and

[0455] the user data on the above described optical disk is recorded inone of the forms of the reproduction-only, write-once and rewritabletypes as the encrypted data to which the first encrypting has beenperformed with the above described first secret data key or the abovedescribed second secret data key as the encrypting key, and

[0456] the decrypting key of the above described reproduction means isthe above described first secret data key or the above described secondsecret data key, and in the case where the above described optical diskhas the recording area, the encrypting keys of the above describedrecording means are the above described first secret data key and theabove described second secret data key respectively.

[0457] Thus, it is possible to effectively eliminate the pirated opticaldisks and optical disk drives and protect the license because only thecombination of the licensed optical disk and optical disk drive cangenerate the legitimate encrypting and decrypting keys and perform therecording and reproduction based on them.

[0458] The eleventh invention in the above fourth group invention is theabove described optical disk drive according to the above tenthinvention constituting the license protection system of the optical diskand/or optical disk drive, characterized in that

[0459] the above described optical disk is the optical disk furtherhaving different contents of the above described secret information perpredetermined number of the above described optical disks and having thesecret information corresponding to the optical disks infringing on thelicense conditions recorded as the infringement disk list, and

[0460] the above described optical disk drive further has theinfringement disk storage table of appending the infringement disksrecorded on the above described infringement disk list, appending meansof reproducing the above described infringement disk list every time theabove described optical disk is mounted and on discovering the secretinformation corresponding to the infringement disk not recorded in theabove described infringement disk storage table, appending the secretinformation corresponding to the above described discovered infringementdisk to the above described infringement disk storage table, and

[0461] the recording and reproduction prohibition means of prohibitingthe recording and reproduction thereafter in the case where the secretinformation reproduced by the above described special reproduction meansis recorded in the above described infringement disk storage table.

[0462] Thus, it is possible to effectively protect the license byprohibiting the recording and reproduction on the optical disksinfringing on the license.

[0463] (5) Furthermore, as for the above fifth group invention, therecording and reproduction method of the secret information to berecorded on the optical disk constituting the license protection systemof the optical disk and optical disk drive is characterized in that itis comprised of

[0464] a recording step of recording the information units while theabove described secret information is comprised of one or moreinformation bits, 1 bit of the above described information bit isrecorded in a distributed state by setting as the information unit theminute information which is the pre-pit displacement of the pre-pitembossed on the above described optical disk and/or groove displacementof the groove of a specific length and using a plurality of the abovedescribed information units, the direction of the displacement of eachof the above described information units is ordered by directionalarrangement based on the predetermined rule, the direction of thedisplacement of each of the above described information units is set tobecome opposite according to whether the value of the above describedinformation bit is “0” or “1” so that the above described pre-pitdisplacement is the minute displacement which will not impair theoriginal information carried by the above described pre-pit, that is,the minute displacement of the radial edge of the above describedpre-pit and/or the minute displacement of the rotative-direction edgeand/or the minute change of the size of the above described pre-pit, andthe above described groove displacement is the minute change which willnot impair the original role of the above described groove, that is, thewobble minute displacement of the above described groove in the radialdirection or the minute change of the groove width, and

[0465] a reproduction step of determining whether the above described 1bit is “0” or “1” while the above described minute information isreproduced by using the optical head, a total reflection light quantitysignal of the optical spot of the above described optical head is usedto detect the minute displacement of a rotative-direction edge of theabove described pre-pit, the minute change of the size of the abovedescribed pre-pit or the minute displacement of the above describedgroove width, the push-pull signal of the optical spot of the abovedescribed optical head is used to detect the minute displacement of theradial edge of the above described pre-pit, and the reproduction isperformed by the playback system using the above described push-pullsignal or a differential signal for magnet-optical signal detection todetect the wobble minute displacement of the above described groove,each minute information of a plurality of information unitscorresponding to 1 bit of the information bit of the above describedsecret information is detected by the above described play back systemto constitute a minute information arrangement, and the sum of productsis calculated as to the value indicating the change of each element ofthe above described minute information arrangement and the value of thechange of the direction of each element of the above describeddirectional arrangement so as to determine whether the above described 1bit is “0” or “1,” and

[0466] the above described method records and reproduces the secretinformation on the optical disk by using the above described recordingstep and the above described reproduction step.

[0467] Thus, it is possible to embed the secret information difficultfor unlicensed pirate traders to analyze in the optical disk of whichlicense should be protected and further allow only a formally licensedoptical disk drive manufacturer to normally reproduce the secretinformation so as to effectively protect the license of the unlicensedoptical disk and optical disk drive.

[0468] As described above, the invention disclosed in this specificationand the drawings relates to the license wherein the person who newlydeveloped the optical disk and/or optical disk drive becomes thelicensor and licenses a third party as the licensee so as to permit themanufacturing and sales of the above described optical disk and/oroptical disk drive by receiving the reasonable license fees.

[0469] To be more specific, the invention relates to the licenseprotection system of the optical disk and/or optical disk drive, theoptical disk, the optical disk drive and the recording and reproductionmethod of the secret information for the sake of protecting the rightsof the licensor by making it difficult for an unlicensed person or aperson not paying the license fees to create the pirated optical diskand the pirated optical disk drive.

[0470] Industrial Applicability

[0471] As described above, the present invention can provide the opticaldisk capable of blocking the distribution of the illegitimate opticaldisks and/or optical disk drives more effectively than before.

1. An optical disk comprising first information relating to uniqueinformation given to a specific optical disk manufacturer or a specificoptical disk and second information of identifying an illegitimateoptical disk manufacturer or an illegitimate optical disk are recordedin advance, wherein said optical disk comprises an area in whichencrypted data encrypted based on said first and second information isrecorded in advance or an area capable of recording the data to beencrypted based on said first and second information.
 2. The opticaldisk according to claim 1, wherein third information relating to theunique information given to a specific optical disk drive manufactureror a specific optical disk drive is recorded on said optical disk inadvance and said third information is also used for said encrypting. 3.The optical disk according to claim 2 comprising an area capable ofrecording as fourth information the information corresponding to saidoptical disk manufacturer determined to be illegitimate or said opticaldisk drive determined to be illegitimate, said fourth information alsobeing used for said encrypting.
 4. A license protection system of anoptical disk and optical disk drive, wherein said license protectionsystem comprises said optical disk on which at least first specialinformation to be provided only to the optical disk manufacturerlicensed by the licensor and managed by the License administrativeorganization founded by involving said licensor is recorded, and saidoptical disk drive having storage means in which second specialinformation to be provided only to the optical disk drive manufacturerlicensed by the licensor and managed by said License administrativeorganization is stored, key generation means of generating key data fromsaid first special information and/or second special information,recording and reproduction means of encrypting inputted user data saidkey data to record it on said optical disk and reading the encrypteduser data from said optical disk and decrypting it with said key data tooutput it as the user data, and recording and reproduction prohibitionmeans of prohibiting the operation of said recording and reproductionmeans in the case where said first special information is illegitimateor does not exist and/or the said second special information isillegitimate, and a part or all of the information relating to saidfirst special information, said second special information, said storagemeans, said key generation means, said recording and reproduction meansand said recording and reproduction prohibition means is managed as thespecial information unique to the licensor and is provided only to saidmedium licensee and/or drive licensee by said License administrativeorganization in the form of limited disclosure or similar to a blackbox.
 5. A license protection system of an optical disk, wherein saidlicense protection system comprises said optical disk on which thesecret information is recorded in a form reproducible only by specialreproduction means, an encrypting key is generated based on said secretinformation, and the user data encrypted by said encrypting key isrecorded as the encrypted data in the form of a reproduction-only,write-once or rewritable type, and an optical disk drive having specialreproduction means of reading said secret information from said opticaldisk, reproduction control means of prohibiting the recording andreproduction operation thereafter when said secret information is notcorrectly reproduced and generating said encrypting key based on saidsecret information when said secret information is reproduced,reproduction means of reading said encrypted data and decrypting it withsaid encrypting key as the decrypting key to output the user data, andrecording means of, in the case where said optical disk has a recordingarea, inputting the user data and encrypting said inputted user datawith said encrypting key to record it in the recording area of saidoptical disk, and a part or all of the information relating to saidsecret information, the recording form of said secret information, thegeneration method of said encrypting key, the encrypting method of saiduser data, said special reproduction means, said reproduction controlmeans, said reproduction means and said recording means is provided onlyto the medium licensee and/or drive licensee by said Licenseadministrative organization in the form of limited disclosure or similarto a black box.
 6. The license protection system of said optical diskaccording to claim 5, wherein said optical disk is the one furtherhaving different contents of said secret information per predeterminednumber of said optical disks and having the secret informationcorresponding to the optical disks infringing on the license conditionsrecorded as the infringement disk list, and said optical disk drivefurther has the infringement disk storage table of appending theinfringement disks recorded on said infringement disk list, write-oncemeans of reproducing said infringement disk list every time said opticaldisk is mounted and on discovering the secret information correspondingto the infringement disk not recorded in said infringement disk storagetable, appending the secret information corresponding to said discoveredinfringement disk to said infringement disk storage table, and therecording and reproduction prohibition means of prohibiting therecording and reproduction thereafter in the case where the secretinformation reproduced by said special reproduction means is recorded insaid infringement disk storage table, and when said optical disk isnewly created, the secret information corresponding to all the opticaldisks infringing on the license conditions discovered up to that pointin time is provided as said infringement disk list by said Licenseadministrative organization.
 7. A license protection system of anoptical disk drive, wherein said license protection system comprises anoptical disk on which the encrypted data key list is recorded, afterperforming the second encrypting to one data key of performing the firstencrypting to the user data and recording it with the predeterminednumber of numbered license keys respectively and generating a list ofthe same number of the encrypted data keys as said predetermined number,by changing to nullified keys said encrypted data keys corresponding tothe infringement license keys stored in all the optical disk driveshaving infringed on the license conditions by the point in time in saidlist and constituting said list to be searchable with said numbers, andthe user data undergoes the first encrypting by said data key and isrecorded as the encrypted data in the form of the reproduction-only,write-once or rewritable type, and the optical disk drive having listreproduction means of reading said encrypted data key list from saidoptical disk, license key storage means of storing one or more licensekeys extracted according to the predetermined rule from saidpredetermined number of numbered license keys, control means ofselecting said stored license keys one by one and searching for theencrypted data key corresponding to that number to determine whether ornot it is the nullified key so as to proceed to a next decryptingprocess if the searched encrypted data key is not the nullified key orprohibit the recording and reproduction operation thereafter if theencrypted data corresponding to all the license keys in said license keystorage means are the nullified keys, decrypting means of, when thedecrypting is ordered by said control means, performing seconddecrypting to said searched encrypted data key with said selectedlicense key as the decrypting key and generating the data key, thereproduction means of reproducing the encrypted data from said opticaldisk and performing the first decrypting with said data key as thedecrypting key to output the user data, and the recording means of, inthe case where said optical disk has the recording area, inputting theuser data and performing the first encrypting to said inputted user datawith said data key as the encrypting key to record it in the recordingarea of said optical disk, and a part or all of the information on saiddata key, said license key, said first encrypting and decryptingmethods, said second encrypting and decrypting methods, said encrypteddata key list, said nullified keys, said list reproduction means, saidlicense key storage means, said control means, said decrypting means,said reproduction means and said recording means is provided only to themedium licensee and/or drive licensee by the License administrativeorganization in the form of limited disclosure or similar to a blackbox.
 8. The license protection system of said optical disk driveaccording to claim 7, wherein said optical disk having the recordingarea is the optical disk further having recorded thereon the firstinfringement drive list on which the numbers of the infringement licensekeys stored in the optical disk drives infringing on the licenseconditions are added as the infringement numbers, and said optical diskdrive is the optical disk drive further having the infringement drivestorage table capable of additionally recording the numbers of theinfringement license keys stored in the optical disk drives infringingon the license conditions as the infringement numbers, search means ofreproducing said encrypted data key list and generating the numberscorresponding to the nullified keys as the second infringement drivelist every time said optical disk is mounted, first infringement numberupdating means of reproducing said first infringement drive list ifrecorded on said optical disk on said mounting and appending to saidfirst infringement drive list the infringement numbers stored in saidinfringement drive storage table and said second infringement drive listbut not stored in said first infringement drive list, secondinfringement number updating means of appending to said infringementdrive storage table the infringement numbers stored in said firstinfringement drive list and said second infringement drive list but notstored in said infringement drive storage table, and the control meansof, in the case where the numbers of the license keys stored in saidlicense key storage means match with the infringement numbers stored insaid first infringement drive list, said infringement drive storagetable and said second infringement drive list, prohibiting thedecrypting and encrypting operations by said matching license keys. 9.The license protection system of the optical disk drive according toclaim 7 or 8, wherein said optical disk drive is the optical disk drivefurther having network connection means and third infringement numberupdating means of taking in the latest infringement numbers provided bythe License administrative organization from said network connectionmeans and appending to said infringement drive storage table theinfringement numbers which are not in said infringement drive storagetable.
 10. The license protection system said optical disk driveaccording to claim 7 or 8, wherein said optical disk is the optical diskfurther having recorded thereon the secret information in the form onlyreproducible by the special reproduction means, and said optical diskdrive is the optical disk drive further having the special reproductionmeans of reading said secret information from said optical disk, thereproduction control means of prohibiting the recording and reproductionoperation thereafter when said secret information is not correctlyreproduced and generating a third encrypting key based on said secretinformation when said secret information is reproduced, secret data keygeneration means of generating a first secret data key having performeda third encrypting to said decrypted data key with the data on saidthird encrypting key as the encrypting key or a second secret data keyhaving performed a third encrypting to said third encrypting key withthe data on said decrypted data key as the encrypting key, and the userdata on said optical disk is recorded in one of the forms of thereproduction-only, write-once and rewritable types as the encrypted datato which the first encrypting has been performed with said first secretdata key or said second secret data key as the encrypting key, and thedecrypting key of said reproduction means of said optical disk drive issaid first secret data key or said second secret data key, and in thecase where said optical disk has the recording area, the encrypting keysof said recording means are said first secret data key or said secondsecret data key respectively, and a part or all of the information onsaid secret information, said special reproduction means, saidreproduction control means, said secret data key generation means, saidmethod of generating the third encrypting key, said first secret datakey and said second secret data key is provided only to the mediumlicensee and/or drive licensee by the License administrativeorganization in the form of limited disclosure or similar to a blackbox, and the license protection system of said optical disk drivefurther has the function of protecting the license of the optical disk.11. The license protection system of the optical disk drive according toclaim 10, wherein said optical disk is the optical disk further havingrecorded thereon different contents of said secret information perpredetermined number of said optical disks and having the secretinformation corresponding to the optical disks infringing on the licenseconditions as the infringement disk list, and said optical disk drivefurther has the infringement disk storage table of appending theinfringement disks recorded on said infringement disk list, theappending means of reproducing said infringement disk list every timesaid optical disk is mounted and on discovering the secret informationcorresponding to the infringement disk not recorded in said infringementdisk storage table, appending the secret information corresponding tosaid discovered infringement disk to said infringement disk storagetable, and the recording and reproduction prohibition means ofprohibiting the recording and reproduction thereafter in the case wherethe secret information reproduced by said special reproduction means isrecorded in said infringement disk storage table, and when said opticaldisk is newly created, the secret information corresponding to all theoptical disks infringing on the license conditions discovered up to thatpoint in time is provided as said infringement disk list by said Licenseadministrative organization.
 12. An optical disk drive, comprising:first information deciphering means of deciphering the first informationrelating to the unique information given to a specific optical diskmanufacturer or specific optical disk recorded on the optical, secondinformation storage means of obtaining second information of identifyingan illegitimate optical disk manufacturer or illegitimate optical disk,first determination of determining whether or not said optical disk isillegitimate based on the deciphering results of said first informationdeciphering means and storage contents of said second informationstorage means, and control means of controlling reproduction of the datafrom said optical disk and/or recording of the data on said optical diskbased on the determination result of said determination means.
 13. Theoptical disk drive according to claim 12, wherein said secondinformation is information recorded on said optical disk in advanceand/or obtained via the Internet.
 14. The optical disk drive accordingto claim 12, comprising: unique information storage means of storingapparatus unique information given to a specific optical diskmanufacturer or a specific optical disk drive, and second determinationmeans of reading said apparatus unique information and check it againstthird information on said apparatus unique information recorded on saidoptical disk in advance to determine whether or not said optical diskdrive manufacturer is illegitimate or whether or not said optical diskdrive is illegitimate, wherein said control means also utilizes thedetermination result of said second determination means.
 15. The opticaldisk drive according to claim 14, comprising: fourth information storagemeans of obtaining and storing the fourth information corresponding tothe optical disk manufacturer or optical disk drive determined to beillegitimate, and updating means of updating and recording said fourthinformation in the data area of said optical disk based on storagecontents of said fourth information storage means, wherein said seconddetermination means makes said determination by also utilizing theprocessing result of said updating means.
 16. An optical disk drive,comprising: the special reproduction means of reading secret informationfrom the optical disk on which said secret information is recorded in aform reproducible only by the special reproduction means and anencrypting key is generated based on said secret information and theuser data encrypted by said encrypting key is recorded as encrypted datain a form of the reproduction-only, write-once or rewritable type,reproduction control means of prohibiting recording and reproductionoperation thereafter when said secret information is not correctlyreproduced and generating said encrypting key based on said secretinformation when said secret information is reproduced, reproductionmeans of reading said encrypted data and decrypting it with saidencrypting key as the decrypting key to output the user data, andrecording means of, in the case where said optical disk has a recordingarea, inputting the user data and encrypting said inputted user datawith said encrypting key to record it in the recording area of saidoptical disk.
 17. The optical disk drive according to claim 16, whereinsaid optical disk is the optical disk characterized by further havingdifferent contents of said secret information per predetermined numberof said optical disks and having the secret information corresponding tothe optical disks infringing on the license conditions recorded as theinfringement disk list, and said optical disk drive further has theinfringement disk storage table of appending the infringement disksrecorded on said infringement disk list, appending means of reproducingsaid infringement disk list every time said optical disk is mounted andon discovering the secret information corresponding to the infringementdisk not recorded in said infringement disk storage table, appending thesecret information corresponding to said discovered infringement disk tosaid infringement disk storage table, and recording and reproductionprohibition means of prohibiting the recording and reproductionthereafter in the case where the secret information reproduced by saidspecial reproduction means is recorded in said infringement disk storagetable.
 18. An optical disk drive, comprising: reproduction means ofreading encrypted data key list from the optical disk on which saidencrypted data key list is recorded after performing the secondencrypting to one data key of performing the first encrypting to theuser data to record it with a predetermined number of numbered licenseand generating a list of the same number of the encrypted data keys assaid predetermined number, and said encrypted data keys corresponding tothe infringement license keys stored in all the optical disk driveshaving infringed on the license conditions by the point in time in saidlist are changed to the nullified keys and said list is constituted tobe searchable with said numbers, and the user data undergoes the firstencrypting by said data key and is recorded as the encrypted data in theform of the reproduction-only, write-once or rewritable type, licensekey storage means of storing one or more license keys extractedaccording to the predetermined rule from said predetermined number ofnumbered license keys, control means of selecting said stored licensekeys one by one and searching for the encrypted data key correspondingto that number to determine whether or not it is the nullified key so asto proceed to a next decrypting process if it is not the nullified keyor prohibit the recording and reproduction operation thereafter if theencrypted data keys corresponding to all the license keys in saidlicense key storage means are the nullified keys, decrypting means of,when the decrypting is ordered by said control means, performing thesecond decrypting to said searched encrypted data key with said selectedlicense key as the decrypting key and generating the data key,reproduction means of reproducing the encrypted data from said opticaldisk and performing the first decrypting with said data key as thedecrypting key to output the user data, and recording means of, in thecase where said optical disk has the recording area, inputting the userdata and performing the first encrypting to said inputted user data withsaid data key as the encrypting key to record it in the recording areaof said optical disk.
 19. The optical disk drive according to claim 18,wherein said optical disk having a recording area is the optical diskfurther having recorded thereon a first infringement drive list on whicha number of the infringement license key stored in the optical diskdrive infringing on the license conditions are added as the infringementnumber, and said optical disk drive is the optical disk drive furtherhaving an infringement drive storage table capable of additionallyrecording the numbers of the infringement license keys stored in theoptical disk drives infringing on the license conditions as theinfringement numbers, search means of reproducing said encrypted datakey list and generating the number corresponding to the nullified key asthe second infringement drive list every time said optical disk ismounted, first infringement number updating means of reproducing saidfirst infringement drive list if recorded on said optical disk on saidmounting and appending to said first infringement drive list theinfringement number stored in said infringement drive storage table andsaid second infringement drive list but not stored in said firstinfringement drive list, second infringement number updating means ofappending to said infringement drive storage table the infringementnumber stored in said first infringement drive list and said secondinfringement drive list but not stored in said infringement drivestorage table, and the control means of, in the case where the number ofthe license key stored in said license key storage means match with theinfringement number stored in said first infringement drive list, saidinfringement drive storage table and said second infringement drivelist, prohibiting the decrypting and encrypting operations by saidmatching license key.
 20. The optical disk drive according to claim 18or 19, further comprising: network connection means and thirdinfringement number updating means of taking in the latest infringementnumbers provided by the License administrative organization from saidnetwork connection means and appending to said infringement drivestorage table the infringement numbers which are not in saidinfringement drive storage table.
 21. The optical disk drive accordingto claim 18 or 19, wherein said optical disk is the optical disk furtherhaving recorded thereon the secret information in the form onlyreproducible by the special reproduction means, and said optical diskdrive is the optical disk drive further having special reproductionmeans of reading said secret information from said optical disk,reproduction control means of prohibiting the recording and reproductionoperation thereafter when said secret information is not correctlyreproduced and generating the third encrypting key based on said secretinformation when said secret information is reproduced, secret data keygeneration means of generating the first secret data key havingperformed the third encrypting to said decrypted data key with the dataon said third encrypting key as the encrypting key or the second secretdata key having performed the third encrypting to said third encryptingkey with the data on said decrypted data key as the encrypting key, andthe user data on said optical disk is recorded in one of the forms ofthe reproduction-only, write-once and rewritable types as the encrypteddata to which the first encrypting has been performed with said firstsecret data key or said second secret data key as the encrypting key,and the decrypting key of said reproduction means is said first secretdata key or said second secret data key, and in the case where saidoptical disk has the recording area, the encrypting keys of saidrecording means are said first secret data key and said second secretdata key respectively.
 22. The optical disk drive according to claim 21,wherein said optical disk is the optical disk further having differentcontents of said secret information per predetermined number of saidoptical disks and having the secret information corresponding to theoptical disks infringing on the license conditions recorded as theinfringement disk list, and said optical disk drive further has (1) theinfringement disk storage table of appending the infringement disksrecorded on said infringement disk list, appending means of reproducingsaid infringement disk list every time said optical disk is mounted andon discovering the secret information corresponding to the infringementdisk not recorded in said infringement disk storage table, (2) appendingthe secret information corresponding to said discovered infringementdisk to said infringement disk storage table, and (3) recording andreproduction prohibition means of prohibiting the recording andreproduction thereafter in the case where the secret informationreproduced by said special reproduction means is recorded in saidinfringement disk storage table.
 23. A recording and reproduction methodof secret information to be recorded on an optical disk, comprising thesteps of: a recording step of recording the information units while saidsecret information is comprised of one or more information bits, 1 bitof said information bit is recorded in a distributed state by setting asthe information unit the minute information which is the pre-pitdisplacement of the pre-pit embossed on said optical disk and/or groovedisplacement of the groove of a specific length and using a plurality ofsaid information units, the direction of the displacement of each ofsaid information units is ordered by directional arrangement based onthe predetermined rule, the direction of the displacement of each ofsaid information units is set to become opposite according to whetherthe value of said information bit is “0” or “1” so that said pre-pitdisplacement is the minute displacement which will not impair theoriginal information carried by said pre-pit, that is, the minutedisplacement of the radial edge of said pre-pit and/or the minutedisplacement of the rotative-direction edge and/or the minute change ofthe size of said pre-pit, and said groove displacement is the minutechange which will not impair the original role of said groove, that is,the wobble minute displacement of said groove in the radial direction orthe minute change of the groove width, and a reproduction step ofdetermining whether said 1 bit is “0” or “1” while said minuteinformation is reproduced by using the optical head, a total reflectionlight quantity signal of the optical spot of said optical head is usedto detect the minute displacement of a rotative-direction edge of saidpre-pit, the minute change of the size of said pre-pit or the minutedisplacement of said groove width, the push-pull signal of the opticalspot of said optical head is used to detect the minute displacement ofthe radial edge of said pre-pit, and the reproduction is performed bythe playback system using said push-pull signal or a differential signalfor magnet-optical signal detection to detect the wobble minutedisplacement of said groove, each minute information of a plurality ofinformation units corresponding to 1 bit of the information bit of saidsecret information is detected by said playback system to constitute aminute information arrangement, and the sum of products is calculated asto the value indicating the change of each element of said minuteinformation arrangement and the value of the change of the direction ofeach element of said directional arrangement so as to determine whethersaid 1 bit is “0” or “1,”, wherein said method records and reproducesthe secret information on the optical disk by using said recording stepand said reproduction step.